Chasing You
by beautifulxlife
Summary: Duncan's parents have had it with him. They're finally taking action, and sending him to boarding school. Geoff is joining him too! But, Duncan is going to find more than he bargained, and learn more then just the regular curriculum at Abbott Academy.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Johnna. Welcome to my third fan fiction, it's titled Chasing You(well, duh.) I hope you all enjoy this story. I've actually had the first chapter written for a while. But, was waiting for my other stories to end before I decided to post it. I really hope you all enjoy this first chapter. Leave a review with a comment, or suggestion! Anything you say can be used to improve my writing. Thanks again, and enjoy! :)  
**

**If you're curious for other stories I have written they are**

**Bless The Broken Road - TDI/TDA **

**Camp TV - TDI/TDA (roleplay)  
**

_Saturday_

I may not be the smartest guy around. I may not be the eye candy for every single girl in the school(maybe not every single girl, but I do have a group of admirers). I may not be the most popular guy in my school. I may not even be the smoothest guy around, but I am definitely the most dangerous. The worst. Bad to the bone(as my grandpa would put it). Been to juvie and back probably more times than I have actually been to school in my sophomore year of high school.

Now supposedly it is a new year and I can make changes to my life, make good decisions. As my therapist would put it. What a sham she was anyways. I could tell she was afraid of me when I walked into her office. Then she was downright terrified when I told her the story about the guy I shared cell with in juvey.

"Steve. That's his name. Or Hairy Scary Steve, as he prefers."

"Hair Scary Steve?" My therapist repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, good guy, good guy." I laid back in the long, velor, red couch. I kicked my feet up on her coffee table.

"I can't see how good he must be if you two shared a cell in juvey." My therapist said.

I glanced on her desk, she had a name tag that read, Dr. Nelson.

"See, that's the difference between us, Dr. Nelson." I sat up.

"What's the difference?" She asked.

"You see the bad in people, and I….I see the good." I hide my smirk, and put on my best bullshit face.

"Mhm…" She hummed, and wrote something down on her clipboard.

One month of 'intense therapy' and I was out of there. What a waste of time and money.

When my parents sat me down this morning, and began with "Duncan we have something to tell you." I was worried I would be going back to that mad house.

"Don't tell me, more therapy?" I interrupted.

"Actually no, son." My dad assured, he took a seat down on our red couch.

He had gotten home from work just a little while ago, he and my mom both worked as cops. So did most of my family. Okay, so did all of my family. My dad buttoned the cuffs of his blue shirt, and put his glasses on.

"Thank God." I muttered under my breath.

My mom put her hands out, and covered them over my hands, and leaned forward.

"Duncan, sweetheart, we're a family, and families work with one another. I'll do something for your father, and he will do something for me in return." She started off.

"Your mother is right, I will do the dishes, and she will do the laundry." He used as an example.

"Right, and we need you to do something for us." Mom continued.

She moved her hands, and leaned back onto the couch, with dad who put his arm around her shoulders.

"Like what?" I ask keeping my voice even.

"It's a change, but just hear us out." Dad added.

"Fine, I promise not to….rob a bank if I don't like the news." I said sarcastically, with a chuckle.

Mom and Dad weren't laughing, or smiling. Not even a little, they exchanged worried glances, and focused back on me.

"I was joking." I assured.

"Yes, Duncan. That needs to stop." Mom said.

"What needs to stop?"

"The joking, the fooling around, the criminal record." Dad listed.

Before I could protest, mom followed up, "That won't be accepted in your new school."

Then I blinked a few times. _New school? What? No. Really? New school? Why? Was I thrown out of Jamison High?_

"New school?" I repeated dumbfounded.

"Yes." They answered together.

"Why? I didn't get expelled from Jamison High School. I barely got into trouble there!"

"Because you were never there." Dad pointed out.

"So." I mumbled.

"So…here are some pamphlets your father and I picked up after your registration. You will be attending Abbott Academy on the start of Monday." Mom kept her voice calm, and nice.

She was probably afraid of me pulling out a pocket knife and trying to stab someone. Not that I would do that, but sometimes I wonder if my parents are afraid of me.

Mom handed me the pamphlets, and I took a look at the cover.

"Prep school?" I shouted angrily.

"It's not a prep school." Dad promised.

"No?"

"It's a boarding school."

I groaned in protest, and leaned back against the recliner chair I was sitting in.

"Fan-freaking-tastic." I moan.

"There are no uniforms, but there is a dress code." Mom told me.

"Like what? Don't wear belts on Tuesday, and always wear black on Mondays?"

"Duncan, cut the attitude when you're talking to your mother." Dad ordered.

Dear old dad, how you have betrayed me by making me go to a snobby boarding school. If they can't get me to go to school, they'll make me live there. Whatever, I'll just break out within a weeks worth.

"What's the dress code?" I ask uninterested.

"Khaki pants, or on occasion jeans. They have to be nice, clean, pressed, jeans. No holes or exotic designs."

"Khakis?" I sputtered out leaning forward again.

"With a button down shirt, any color is fine. Preferably white or blue. Young gentlemen wear ties, and a navy blue, or black blazer."

"A blazer? Dad, mom! You can't make me go through with this." I argued.

"You can bring along two pairs of sneakers, and two pairs of loafers."

"Loafers? Are you kidding?" I asked flatly.

The loafer thing killed it for me.

"We already have the blazer, the khakis, the clean jeans, and several button down shirts, and ties laid out on your bed now. Your suitcase is in the front hall closet." Dad explained as I got up.

My cell phone began to ring, and I pulled it out of my pocket. I read the name on the caller I.D, and picked up the phone.

"Hey man." I greeted while leaving the room.

"Hola dude! What's up?" Geoff asked sounding eccentric as always.

I walked upstairs into my room, and slammed the door shut.

"Shitty news." I began.

"Me too, dude." Geoff said.

"I bet mine is worse." I took hold of the dark blue blazer on my bed, and stared at it in disgust.

"Fat chance." Geoff challenged.

"I don't think so." I mumbled at the blazer. I dropped it onto my bed. "What's your news, Geoff?" I ask.

"My parents are shipping me away." Geoff sounded upset. "To boarding school!" He shouted on the other end of the line.

"No shit? Mine too." I said un-amused.

"Where to?"

"I don't remember the name. Some academy." I pushed all of the clothes onto the floor, and laid on my bed."Abbott Academy?" Geoff guessed.

"I think." I rolled over onto my back.

"Dude, that's where _my_ folks are sending me!" Geoff's tone sounded a little more upbeat.

"Wow, this makes the trip fifteen percent less shittier."

"Seriously, dude! When do you start?" Geoff's eager tone asked.

"Monday." I groan.

"Me too, dude!"

"That's what I figured."

"I can't believe our folks, what's their damage, bro? Mine think I can get a quality education by enrolling there. So re-donk-you-lous" Geoff said creating his own word.

I walked out of my bedroom, and to the front hall closet and grabbed my black suitcase.

"Yeah, and mine just don't trust me." I say rolling the suitcase into my room and throwing it carelessly onto my bed.

"Are you taking the train to the school?" Geoff asked.

"Yeah, probably. Unless my parents ship me away in handcuffs." I remarked. "Then again, I could probably get out of the handcuffs quicker." I said as an afterthought.

"True that, bro."

"I got to get to packing, Geoff. Talk to you later, dude?"

"Yeah me too, bye bro."

I hung up my cell phone, and started carelessly throwing my new clothes into my suitcase. I walked over to my bureau, and grabbed all of my boxers, and socks and threw them into the suitcase.

I put my cell phone charger into my suitcase, my music charger, and my ipod into my suitcase. I packed my pocket knife into the back corner of my suitcase(in case I get bored and decide to tag some trees or desks). I finished packing within twenty minutes.

My cell phone rang, and I pulled it out of my back pocket. I checked the caller ID, _Taylor_. You see, Taylor isn't my girlfriend. She isn't my friend, she isn't my anything. We hooked up like two or three times. But, it wasn't even a real hookup, we didn't have sex or anything.

We just made out for like an hour, and she took off her shirt, but she had her bra on and everything. She has been calling me nonstop. This hookup thing happened a month ago, and I haven't talked to her since. Maybe, if I tell her I'm leaving now she'll give up on me, and find someone else.

"Hello?"

"Duncan! Hi! It's me, Taylor!" She sounded overly excited.

"Taylor? Oh, yeah." I smirked, pretending not to remember her.

"We hooked up a while ago, at Jen's party? I wore the pink, Victoria Secret's lacy bra…" I think she was trying to like, seduce me or something. It isn't working, and she wore a black bra.

"_Oh!_ Right, I remember you…how's it been?" I ask pretending to care.

She giggled a little, and I heard a ton of talking and laughter in the back round "It's been good, the same…so I was wondering when are we going to go out again?" She asked.

Again? We didn't go out once.

"Well, if my memory serves me right, we didn't even go out once."

"Your memory serves right. Maybe you should take me on a first date."

"Maybe…but can't." I don't feel bad at all.

"Why?" She sounds disappointed.

"I'm moving. Boarding school, parents are making me go." I say casually.

"What a bummer!" She whines.

I hear murmuring in the back.

"I know right. So I guess I'll see ya never babe. It might be best to delete this number." I was about to hang up, but she said something that caught my attention.

"Maybe…but maybe we should, I don't know. Hook up one last time?" She offered.

I heard a lot of ooh-ing and laughter, and teasing in the back. Is she at a sleepover or something? Are we really eleven years old?

Although, a hookup might sound nice. But, it might best if I leave everything about this town behind. Don't want to start feeling an attachment when having to leave. Not that I ever feel attach. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't fall hard, or at all for the matter. I don't need love, it makes a perfectly smart person turn into a sucker, and then act like a moron whenever their 'partner' comes around.

"Yeah, here's the thing, Taylor." I pause.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"I'm no one's bitch." Then I cut the line, and hung up my cell phone.

I tossed it back onto my bed and zipped my suitcase shut. I pulled it off my bed, and put it next to my door.

I walked out of my room, and ran into my mom in the hallway.

"I finished packing." I announce.

"Wonderful." She clapped her hands together once.

I scowled slightly, and her smile fell into a frown.

"Duncan, you need to realize your father and I don't want to do this." She started.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, mom. You don't want to do this, but you have to. It's the same story every time. I get it!" I exclaimed, and I walked back into my room, slamming my bedroom door shut.

Like I need to hear this again. It's the same speech each time I get into some shitty mess, like when my parents sent me to therapy. I grunted, and fell back onto my bed, and shut my eyes. I can't wait for these stupid teen years to be over. New school, new kids, new teachers, new life. New Duncan? I sit up on my bed. I could try to change my image, be the good guy that everyone trusts, so I can get away with murder, and no one could suspect it's me.

Yeah right. Like I can keep a good image for more than fifteen minutes. I lay back onto my bed. There was another knock on my door.

"Duncan, please just listen to me." My mom pleaded.

"I'm listening." I grunted.

"You have to know, your father and I love you more than anything in the world. We only want what's best for you, and we both believe that Abbott Academy is."

"Are you sure it isn't because you're both afraid of me, and you both want me gone?" I shout.

"Duncan," She sounds disappointed. _Greeaat._ "We are not afraid of you, we could never be afraid of you. We deal with insane criminals every day, you're a mere ant on the criminal radar. Well, more like a June bug. Nonetheless, we're not afraid of you." She rambled.

I sat up on my bed, and listened. She's being serious, honest.

"I know the last person you want to talk to is me, but I love you Duncan, I always will. I'm sorry things are happening this way." She concluded, and her footsteps followed down the hall.

I guess it's okay to love my parents.

**Leave a review! Thanks for reading the first chapter!**


	2. Where It All Begins

**Hey everyone! So thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed the first chapter of my story! I'm glad there was a lot of positive responses so far! So i have exciting news...ready? TOMORROW IS MY 16TH BIRTHDAY!!! WHOO!!! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Love you!**

_Sunday afternoon._

My parents already left me at the bus station. I never thought my mother would stop blubbering. If she loves me so much, she would not make me go to this stupid prep academy. This 'prestigious academy of education' isn't even in Canada. It's in the United States. In New Jersey.

What. The. Frig? School starts tomorrow morning, I so do not want to deal with this now. I felt a slap on my shoulder, and I turned around.

"Dude! What's good?" It was Geoff, with this huge goofy grin on his face.

"Nothing's good, dude. What's up?" We exchange a hand shake, as we walk closer to the train platform, I take notice of Geoff's vibrant orange suitcase.

Our train should be coming in within fifteen minutes. There were a lot of people around our platform, no one looked to be our age.

"Not much, man. I can't believe our folks. I was going to throw a _killer_ party next weekend too! But, I had to pull the plug on that."

Geoff's house, a.k.a. Party Central, is a big ranch-style house. His parents are away a lot, they like to travel, take long vacations. They trust Geoff. Or they trusted Geoff, one time they came home a week early from their vacation, and busted Geoff when he was in the middle of a totally killer party.

Apparently, it was the best party he has ever thrown, despite the total buzz kill. But, I wasn't even there to see it. Juvie. Same old story.

"Yeah, life's a bitch." I responded bitterly.

Geoff chuckled as the train pulled up, "All aboard, one way to Hell." I say, taking my suitcase by the handle and dragging it onto the train.

Geoff trailed behind, and the conductor checked our tickets, letting us onto the train. We walked all the way down the train, to the last cart. I threw my luggage under my seat, and I sat down on the blue velvet seat, next to the large window.

Geoff plopped down next to me, and slid his luggage under his chair.

"Whoa, dude look at that babe." Geoff whispered to me.

I had not noticed that there were people on the train already. I leaned over, and checked out who Geoff pointed to with his thumb.

Blonde, nice figure, she looks like she belongs in a beach. Like in California. She must be living in a dream world because if she is actually from Canada she has nothing but snow, and cold weather.

"She's…decent." I shrug.

"I think she's pretty hot." Geoff looks at her again.

I lean back in my seat, "I guess so, she isn't my type anyways."

"Not your type? Dude," Geoff chuckles, "girl is your type."

"Way to make me sound like a man whore." I laugh. "Why don't you stop beating around the bush, and go talk to her." I suggest.

Geoff looked over at her again. She pulled out a magazine, and a pair of headphones. Geoff looked back at me. "Go on." I say.

"Fine, if we're going to be on this train for eight hours, I might as well get some sort of entertainment." Geoff shrugged, and stood up.

As he walked down the aisle, the train lurched forward, Geoff flew forward and into the seat next to the blond chick.

I broke out into laughter, along with some other random people who saw Geoff fall. Including the blond girl.

"Smooth." I mumbled to myself, pulling out my ipod, and put on my headphones.

I close my eyes, and listened to my music while the train moved smoothly in motion. I've been on a train a few times before, with my family. We use to go on cheesy family vacations up until I turned thirteen. When everything changed, when I changed.

I can't put into words how or why I changed. All I can say is it happened, and you can't go back in time and change choices or past decisions. It isn't like I would want to anyways.

I guess everything starts somewhere, well duh. When I was thirteen I started hanging around with a group of older guys whom I met outside of a local mall one day. They are a year older then me, and I recognized them from the middle school, but they were freshmen in high school at the time.

I thought they were cool, and when you're a nobody for so long, it gets boring. I decided it was enough. I needed to be someone, I had to do something. It does suck that I was mixed in with the wrong crowd. You don't think I don't know that what I do is wrong? I do know. My family is full of cops for God's sake.

But, some addictions you can't beat, I suppose. The first time I didn't do anything too bad. I stole a stupid key chain. Yeah, it was just a key chain. It wasn't like an MP3 player, or a pair of sneakers. Just a key chain. But, I guess the key chain was the start of it all. I still have the key chain. Whenever I see it, it reminds me of where it all began. It reminds me that everything is always in my hands, and I am always to blame for my poor choices.

Yeah, I could be one of those losers who blame whoever they came, but I don't. I take full responsibility. But, only when I get caught. A second later, my eyes popped open. I felt Geoff shake me to get my attention.

"Yeah, dude?" I took off my head phones.

"I totally just scored with that check over there!" He grinned from ear to ear.

"Did you?" I act interested, although I'm not surprised at all. Geoff has never had trouble getting girls. It's something about his positive energy, (and stupidity) that they're attracted to. Geoff isn't totally stupid, he's just a little dense at times. But, all in all he is the only true friend I have ever had. He has stuck with me through everything, and you can't find that friendship just anywhere.

Geoff kept smiling, "Yep! And dig this, she's going to our school too! She's on some kind of genius, vegan, teen activist scholarship. I know what you're thinking before you say anything, the smart type is a turn off because the girl is more likely to dump the guy due to superiority. But, I don't know…she seems different."

All I did was nod, who was I to tell Geoff the relationship wasn't going to work out. It didn't even start yet. But, I know it probably won't work out. Whoever that chick is probably isn't big on partying, she probably has a dolphin to save somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

"So what's her name?" I ask.

"Bridgette."

"Cool. Where is she from?"

"Huh? Oh, I dunno. Hey, maybe I should go back over there and ask her!" Geoff started to get up, but I pulled him back down into his seat.

"Dude, you don't want to see too eager. Eagerness turns to desperate, desperate turns to pathetic, pathetic keeps you single." I tell him. "But, if you do it my way you can be single and get all the benefits." I say as an after thought.

Geoff chuckled, "You the man." "I know." I smirk, even though it's something I'm probably not suppose to be proud of. But, whatever. You only live once, I'm sixteen, almost seventeen. I have a life to live. I put my headphones back in my ears, and close my eyes, and lean my head against the window.

I wonder what this new place is suppose to be like, what is it suppose to look like? I just hope it's better then being home. I'm giving the school at least a week, before I devise a plan to break out.

I don't buy into that shit about needing an education. Once I finish high school I'm not going to college. I'll find a career, get my own apartment, and live life on my own. The way I should be able to without my parents breathing down my neck every second.

The train lurched to a slow stop, and I took off my headphones. "Are we here already?" I ask Geoff.

"Nope, first stop." He answers.

I groan, and put my Ipod in my back pocket, and get up. I walk over Geoff, "Pee break." I say simple and walk to the back of the cart to find the bathroom. I pass that Bridgette chick, who is quietly reading a magazine.

I open the door to the small bathroom. I lifted up the toilet seat and well, yeah you know. Afterward I splashed some water on my face, and dried it with some cheap, rough paper towel. I swing open the door to the bathroom and as I'm walking back to my seat, someone totally collides into me.

"Oh, excuse me! I apologize." She says immediately, rubbing her forehead. Then she takes a good look at me. Then scowls. I have a feeling she wants to take back her apology. God, hasn't anyone ever taught her not to judge others. "Watch where you're going." I snap.

The brunette rolls her eyes, and walks past me, and takes the seat behind mine. I slumped back into my seat, and the train began rolling again. "How long until we're there, Geoff?" I ask.

"Uh…" he drawled, and itched his chin for a minute.

"Two and a half more hours, that includes the two more stops we have to make." The brunette from behind me piped up.

I turned around, and she was staring back at me, looking sure of herself. She wore a purple polo shirt, and a black skirt that showed some leg. Which I had to admit was pretty hot, despite her nosy attitude.

"Uh, thanks for the information, but I wasn't asking you." I turned back around.

"Excuse me, you should not be talking to people that way. I was trying to be helpful." She says.

"And I clearly, don't care." I turn back around.

"You are so ignorant. Were you even raised with manners?" Okay, I don't know who this chick is but she sure knows how to bug a guy. The more I looked at her, the hotter she looked, but the more I talked to her, the more I wanted to throw her off this train. She doesn't look too old either, she has got to be my age. With my shitty luck she is probably going to my school too. _But, maybe my luck won't be so shitty._

"Yeah, I was raised with manners. But that doesn't mean I use them." I say. She rolled her eyes again.

"Typical." She says. She reached down into her purse and pulled out a notebook and a pen.

"What's typical?" I ask, looking at her notebook.

"You," she pauses. "Well, people like you."

"People like me?" I repeat.

"Yes."

I blink a few times, "What is _that _suppose to mean?"

"Whatever you want it to me, I suppose."

"Great answer." I repeat flatly.

She starts writing in her notebook, and I turned back around. I shoved my Ipod headphones into my ears. _Two and a half more hours, two and a half more hours._ I repeat in my head.

Geoff nudged me in my side, "Dude." he says. I lower the music on my Ipod so I don't have to take my headphones out again.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to move my seat." He gets up.

"What?"

"I'm going to talk to Bridgette." He says, and heads over to where the girl was sitting.

My eyes followed Geoff, and he plopped down next to Bridgette. She smiled, and Geoff started talking animatedly about who the hell knows. We haven't even arrived at the school, and Geoff has already decided to drop me for a girl. Nice. _Well, I would have probably done the same if I saw a babe I was immediately attracted to._

I turn my music back up, and close my eyes hoping this train ride would end soon. "What's your name?" I jumped at a voice, and I pulled out my headphones. I decided to shut off my ipod, and turned around. The girl was leaning forward, and I could see her closer then before.

_Her eyes are dark, and her nose is…cute._ I did a small smirk to myself. "My name? Who wants to know?" I ask. She crossed her arms, and leaned back into the chair.

"Fine be like that."

"Fine, I will." I smirk.

I turned back around, and looked out my window as we passed different scenery every second. The sun should be setting soon. I hate to admit this, but I really like this time of day. I've always thought that the sky looked better an orange-y, pink color then just blue. I've never told anyone this before, I think if I ever said something like that out loud _I _would be thrown into dumpsters, on a daily basis.

The train pulled to another stop. Then the train pulled to another spot forty-five minutes later. Then it stopped one last time, finally. I checked the time on my cell phone, _8:37 P.M_. When the train made its final stop everyone stood up, and stretch briefly. I grabbed my luggage I had placed under my chair. Geoff already had his luggage with him when he moved himself next to Bridgette.

As I grabbed my bag, that chick walked past me, but paused before continuing. "By the way, my name is Courtney. But, it isn't like you care anyways." Then she continued walking off the train.

I grabbed my bag, and quickly followed. It isn't like Geoff needs me to wait up for him. He's doing perfectly fine. I fell into step with Courtney, "So, do you live in New Jersey, or something?" I ask her.

"No. Well, now I do." She answers.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to boarding school." She answers.

I follow her up the steps and out of the train terminal. Outside the wind blows, and there is a bus waiting for all of Abbott Academy's new students. Unfortunately, I will be one of them.

"Abbott academy?"

"You too?" She asks, and lets go of the handle on her purple suitcase.

"Unfortunately." I grumble.

"I'm sorry you feel so negative. I am extremely excited, I begged my parents to let me come here." I boarded the bus, and she followed me.

"I can't imagine why any perfectly normal teenager would want to sacrifice their freedom for a boarding school."

"I guess I'm not normal." She answers, and plops down in a seat across from mine.

Geoff boards the bus with a huge goofy grin on his face, and sits down next to me. "And you're back." I say to Geoff.

"Dude, she so wants me."

"I'm sure." I say half sarcasm.

"You know, I'm actually finding a brighter side to this boarding school thing."

"Sure, and when Bridgette realizes she's too good for you…" Geoff punched me in the arm, "Good one bro." He chuckles. "But, Bridge and I were talking about the school, and she was telling me about some classes, and it sounds cool." _Bridge? He already has a pet name for her? _"I doubt it, but it doesn't matter anymore." I sigh. "We're officially in New Jersey. That doesn't have a nice ring to it either." I decide.

The bus goes into drive, it's full with tons of different kids. Some kids that weren't on the train I was on.

"I wonder if they allow Mohawks on campus." Geoff suddenly says. I cringe, "Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know. It's this prestigious prep academy…you don't see to many of well…_you_ around places like that." Geoff shrugs.

"Good point." I mutter. "But, there is no way I am cutting my hair."

Geoff doesn't say anything, he slouches in his seat. "I hope this place is nice, and allows rad partying." I snort, "No place on Earth can handle your rad partying, Geoff." Geoff smiles, "Solid?" He puts his fist out.

"Solid." I pound his fist.

"So who is that other girl?" Geoff asks.

"What girl?"

"The chick sitting behind us on the train, remember?"

"Oh her? Yeah, I don't know. Some nobody." I shrug.

Geoff nodded, and the bus pulled to a stop in front of the huge campus. It was pretty dark out, so I don't think anything big is happening tonight, besides being assigned rooms or whatever.

The bus emptied, and there was a man standing with a clipboard, leading us inside one of the buildings of Abbott Academy. I can only imagine what is to come soon. Hopefully, it won't suck ass.


	3. We Have Arrived

**HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY EVERYONE! I hope everyone has a beautiful Sunday, and a great mother's day. For those of you who do not have mother's i hope you know that whatever has happened she loves you, and misses you. She may be watching you from Heaven, or thinking about you this very moment.**

**Enjoy Chapter 3 of Chasing You :D Thank you for everything, for reading, and reviewing. I am so grateful for all of this support! I love you guys!  
**

_Sunday night_

All of the new students were dumped into the huge discussion hall. There were rows, and rows of seats. They weren't actual seats, they were like long booths. What they use to sit in college. They were painted brown, and students filled themselves in the seats.

Geoff and I slid into the back row, all different kind of people filled this place. Younger kids, older ones as well. A lot of hot chicks here, that's a bonus. This school starts at seventh grade, and extends to twelfth grade. I'm going to be taking a lot of grade ten classes, since I missed a lot of work from last year. But, I will still be a 'junior' technically.

Which, whatever I don't care. I just hope I don't have a lot of whiny kids in my class. When the room filled up, a man and a women walked in. The women had her hair in a tight bun, that looked like it was giving her a headache. She didn't look that old, but the way she dresses, and does her hair it makes her look old.

_Duncan, listen to yourself. You sound like a girl._ I roll my eyes at myself, thankful no one here can read minds. Geoff nudged me, "Look at all of these kids. They all look like they actually _want_ to be here." I snort.

"I know right, I think we're going to have a geek to coolness ratio problem."

Geoff laughs, and it causes some kids sitting in front of us to turn around, and glare in our direction. Really? They're glaring at me. I raised my eyebrow at them, and looked ahead. They don't want to mess with me. Especially before we actually begin our first day.

"Attention, may I have everyone's attention please." The women said into a portable microphone. The room fell silent. "Thank you, and everyone welcome to Abbott Academy! I am the Head Mistress Mrs. Gammon, and to my right is the Dean. Dean Burke." Some kids began clapping.

When the clapping settled, Mrs. Gammon continued. "I hope to get to know each of you individually some time soon! At the end of our little meeting, I will distribute your class schedules, and dorm rooms. This campus may seem large, but once you get use to it, it isn't very big at all!" Mrs. Gammon smiles.

"Now I will pass the microphone to Dean Burke. I hope you all enjoy your stay at our school!" Mrs. Gammon hands the microphone to Dean Burke, and takes a seat at a side table, with stacks of folders containing our schedules, and dorm assignments.

"What do you think our chances of having a dorm together are?" I mumble to Geoff.

"Slim." he frowns.

Dean Burke takes the mic, "Welcome everyone to Abbott Academy. I am Dean Burke, and I have been Dean here for about fifteen years. I know, that's longer then the ages of some of you kids!" Dean Burke chuckles, and some kids throw out fake laughs.

"In your envelopes there is the student handbook. The guidelines, rules and regulations are in the handbook, and we expect them all to be followed. We don't give up on students here, so if you mess up a few times you will not be expelled, unless it is necessary." Dean Burke locks eyes with some of the kids, as if he was trying to intimidate them._ Ha, if he only knew me._

"It's getting late, so I need to send you all to your dorms. But, if you have any questions or troubles do not hesitate to come to my office, or Mrs. Gammon's office. It's just next door to this hall. Good night everyone, your first day of classes begin tomorrow. So I wish you all a good night's rest." Dean Burke put the microphone down, and Mrs. Gammon picked it up again.

"I will call you all down by alphabetical order. Once your name is called come up here and take your envelope, and head out to your dorm. If you haven't noticed, there are four older students in the back," Everyone including Geoff and I turned to see the four older looking kids standing in the back, near the door. "They will show you where your dorms are." The four kids had signs with the different dorm names on them.

They all must be seniors on the honor society or something. They all looked pretty intelligent. Mrs. Gammon began calling names, and one by one kids got up and took their envelopes and fell into line behind one of the four kids.

"Courtney Alderson." The brunette from the train stood up and walked over to Mrs. Gammon. I watched her slowly open her envelope, and go up to first girl standing in the back. The girl held a sign that read _Brendon R. Hall_. Courtney had her suitcase rolled next to her.

Courtney glanced at me, and then looked away as Mrs. Gammon kept calling names. I leaned over to Geoff and whispered, "Are these halls co-ed?"

"I sure hope so, dude." Geoff chuckled. Then his name was called. "Geoffrey Dillon." Geoff walked over me and down the steps to receive his envelope. Geoff read through his envelope as he walked up the steps. He grinned and stood behind that Bridgette girl he liked. I guess these halls are co-ed. Bridgette and Geoff were also in the same hall as Courtney.

If I get lucky, which I usually do I'll be in the same hall as them. Which will be good because my best friend will be there, and I already know those two girls. So tomorrow when I begin my classes I won't be completely alone.

Don't get me wrong, I can handle myself. But, it's a lot easier knowing someone on your first day. But whatever. About fifty kids later, my name is called. "Duncan Lindon." I jump up and go down the steps and Mrs. Gammon hands me my envelope. I tear it open, and read the hall I'm going to be in. _Willard J. Hall_. I frown, and grab my suitcase, and pull it up the steps and stand behind some tall guy, who had a really nice build. Not that I'm jealous…or anything.

Fifteen minutes later everyone was in their sorted groups and we followed our individual 'leaders' to our dorms. I waved Geoff goodbye, and followed Sara, the senior who has been here since seventh grade(so she says) to our dorm. There were a lot of kids in the same section as me.

All pretty strange looking. On our way to the dorm Sara explained that there is three people to a bedroom. There is one twin sized bed, and a set of bunk beds. Each room has a mini-fridge(score!), and a bathroom in each room. She says it's a small bathroom, but it's better then nothing. Sara told us that the girls are the opposite side of the hall then the guys are.

Sara began to talk about classes, and I began getting bored. Luckily we were at the dorm by then. Sara left us in the foyer of the hall, where most of us dumped our stuff right there, and opened our envelopes again. I looked at my dorm room number, _425_. I pull out my schedule, and glance at that briefly. _Classes start at 7:30 a.m!_ That's a half hour earlier then Jamison started! I groan aloud, and shove the papers back into the envelopes.

"What's wrong? You're not totally loving it here like the rest of these geeks?" A small petite girl comes in my view, with her arms crossed. She has really fair skin, unless it's a lot of white make up. She has a Goth vibe, with dark make-up, and blue streaks in her hair.

"Of course I love it here. I was just groaning because seeing that class starts at seven freakin' thirty put me over the edge of excitement!" I say sarcastically.

"Oh right, that's just icing on the cake." She rolls her eyes. "I'm Gwen." she sticks her hand out. I shake her hand, "Duncan."

She pulls her hand away. "Nice to meet you. Now if you don't mind, I have to go to my dorm. Lucky for me I get to share it with the numb-skull blonde chick, and the big mouth ghetto girl. But, I don't judge." She smirked, and grabbed her black and blue duffle bag, and threw it over her shoulder.

I felt a hand clamp onto my shoulder. "Hi there!" I turned around, and the hand fell off my shoulder.

"Uh…hi." I raised my eyebrow.

"I'm Dj. I couldn't help but notice, we're going to be in the same room."

"425?"

"Yep."

"Cool." I shrug. Dj and I take the elevator to the fourth floor. In the elevator I notice Dj was the guy who had the really huge build. He must lift weights, and play football or some kind of contact sport.

"Where are you from?" He asks me.

"I'm from Quebec, Canada. My folks shipped me here because I basically was never in school last year."

"Why?" Dj asks.

The elevator opens, and we both step out and continue down the hall until we find our room.

"I'm not your typical guy, I guess. I've been to juvie a little less then one hundred times. I've kept count. I don't go to school because I find it pointless, and I hate it. So my parents decided to take real control, and send me here." I answer.

We find our room and open the door. Our third roommate wasn't there yet. So I threw my stuff on the top bunk of the bunk beds.

"Yikes. What's juvie like?" Dj asks, and takes the twin sized bed.

"You don't want to know." I smirk.

The room is pretty big. The walls are painted blue, and the windows are huge. There were white curtains hanging there, and each bed was already made with white sheets, and a blue comforter. I'm sensing a blue and white theme here. I zip open my suit case, and take off my shirt, searching for my pajama pants.

"So what are you doing here, Dj?" I ask.

"My parents thought it was a good idea for me to come out and experience new things. I'm gonna miss my mamma though." I turn around and look at Dj. He puts a frame of him and who I am assuming, is his mother on nightstand next to his bed.

_Mamma's boy._ I turn back around, and find my pajama pants and throw them on.

"Really?" I ask like I'm interested.

"Yeah, my mom and I are pretty close. This whole thing was really my dad's idea. I think he thinks I'm some sort of mamma's boy because I would rather bake then play football." Dj shrugs. So I guess he doesn't do any sort of lifting, just…baking.

"Where are you from?" I ask.

"Syracuse, New York.""Wow." I say.

"It's not really 'wow' worthy." Dj shrugs.

"No, I mean wow, that sounds lame."

Dj laughs, and he opens up his suit case and begins looking for his pajamas as well. The door opened suddenly, and in came our third roommate. I turn to see an averaged sized guy with a duffle bag thrown over one shoulder, and a guitar case strapped to his back. _Great, we got a poser_. I restrained a snarl, and nodded at the guy as Dj greeted him.

"Hi, you must be our final room mate!""Guess, so. What's up guys? I'm Trent." Trent walked over to the bunk bed."Mind if I take top?" He asks.

"Be my guest." I pull my suitcase down, and throw it carelessly on the floor. Trent flashes a smile, and rests his guitar against the wall, and dropped his duffle bag.

"So what's your story?" He asked no one in particular.

"I'm Duncan, and if I don't like you, I'll kill you." I shrugged.

Trent laughed, "Nice." He smirked, and opened his duffle bag.

"I'm Dj, nice to meet you, Trent." Dj shook hands with Trent. Dj returned to his suitcase, and continued unpacking his stuff. I'll unpack my clothes tomorrow, if I need to be awake by six in the friggen morning, I need some shut eye. I glance at the already there digital clock. _Nine-thirty_. It's not even late. I am not adjusting to this new life very well.

"So you play guitar?" Dj asks.

"Yeah, I've played for almost seven years." Trent answers.

"Impressive." Dj puts a lamp on his night stand, next to the picture of him and his mother. "That's it, I'm turning in. I'm exhausted." Dj decides.

"I'm with you on that one, Deej." I agree.

I kicked my suitcase under my bunk, and jumped into bed. Trent walked over to the door, and shut the light off. "Agreed." he says, climbing into his bunk.

"This place better not suck." I say aloud.

"Why would it suck?" Trent asks.

"I don't know. I didn't want to come to this stupid school. Plus everyone here is totally geeked out. Well, everyone besides my best friend, Geoff. His parents made him come here too."

"I don't know, I hope it's good. I hear it's a great school, and looks good on college applications.""If I even go to college." I groan.

Trent doesn't say anything. "Well, with whatever you decide, good luck." Trent concludes. I don't say anything. That was the first remotely positive comment about my future I've ever heard. When it comes to college, my parents force it down my throat. Here's the first guy, whom I've known for two minutes, and he sees things the way I do. _Here I thought he was some stupid poser. _

"Night guys." Trent says a little louder, so Dj can here us.

"Night." Dj and I say in unison.

**Thanks again for everything, Happy Mother's Day**

**-- Johnna :]  
**


	4. Breakfast & English Class

**Hi everyone! So this update was pretty quick. I usually complete one chapter first before posting the other one. But, i never finished typing this one before posting Chapter 3, which is why this one is up so soon! But, i am SO excited to share this one with you guys! I think you will all like it, or like some of it! But, whatever! LOL Enjoy!! Thank you ALL again for your loving support in reading, and reviewing! All of the responses are amazing!**

_Monday Morning_

I woke up to this really weird alarm. It kept beeping repetitively, and it felt like it was beeping in my…ear. I snap my eyes open, and groan, flinging the alarm clock out of Dj's hand, and onto the floor.

"Dude? Close up, much?" I grunt, sitting up.

"Sorry dude, I didn't mean to get in your face but, I don't want you to be late on your first day of class." Dj bent over, and picked up his alarm clock, and placed it back on his nightstand, next to the picture of him and his mother.

I noticed Trent from across the room, looking in the full length mirror on the wall, next to the bathroom door. He adjusted his navy blue blazer, _oh yeah. The dress code._ I moan, and crawl out of bed. I open my suit case, and pull out a white shirt and the black blazer I threw into the suitcase only two days ago.

"God, what time is it?" I moan.

"Six forty-five." Trent replies, walking into the bathroom. The sink water begins running.

"Oh my God," I grunt. "I can't believe this." I start changing my pajamas into my stiff new clothing. I wouldn't even wear this to church. Well, if I went to church regularly I wouldn't wear this. It's not that I have anything against God, or religion. I just found it friggen boring, and when I stopped listening to my parents, I stopped going to church. No big.

After I changed into my clothes, I rolled up the sleeves of my blazer. I then rolled up the sleeves of my white shirt, and it overlapped. The fist two buttons of my shirt were undone, and I slipped on my shoes. Trent walked out of the bathroom, and I walked in. I looked at my reflection, and ran my fingers through my Mohawk. I splashed some water on my face, and adjusted some of my earrings. I took out my eyebrow ring, and used a towel to wipe the water off my face.

"Yo guys, what do we do for breakfast?" I ask, my stomach beginning to rumble.

"Uh, I think the pamphlet said breakfast is served at seven, in the cafeteria. I think the caf' is in the middle of the campus. Then at seven thirty, you're suppose to depart for your classes." Trent answers.

Trent was nearing toward the door, and Dj was close behind. "We're heading down there now. Come with?" Dj asks.

"Sure." I shut the bathroom light off, and follow the guys outside our room. The other rooms had their doors shut, and the hallway was pretty empty. The rug flooring was red, and gold. The walls were a cream color, and blank. Occasional famous paintings, like the guy holding his face, with his mouth wide open. Or that chick who never smiles, with no eyebrows. I was never good with Art history.

Basically the place resembled a hotel. We exited our Hall, and started walking toward the cafeteria. Luckily, it wasn't so far from our hall. In my back pocket I had my schedule, and a map of the school. I'm not one to be organized, but I figured I don't want to be a complete idiot on my first day.

Trent and Dj had been talking about their hobbies, and where they came from. To be honest, I'm pretty nervous about my first day. "What do you think, Duncan?" I snap back, and Dj is looking at me expectantly for an answer.

"Sorry, what?" I blink.

"What is your first class?" Dj repeats.

I pull my schedule out of my back pocket. I fumble with it, and read it over quickly. "English." I answer.

"Sweet, man. Me too." Trent says.

I try to act enthused, but I could care less. We walk into the cafeteria, and the guys go their separate ways immediately. _Nice. _I shuffle to the food line, and grab a plate. I automatically recognized the back of that Courtney girls head. Actually it's her ass and legs that I remembered. But, if she knew that, or if any girl knew that, I would be dead.

Instead of tapping her on the shoulder like any no perverted guy would do, my hand was given a mind of its own, and slapped her in the ass. I cringed at what I had done, as she turned around looking infuriated.

"Excuse you!" She shrieked.

"Whoa, babe chill." I fight a smirk.

"Babe? Chill?" She repeats. "I don't think so! Keep your hands to yourself." She snaps, and moves forward in the food line. I follow her, filling my plate with loads of food. I'm starved. I didn't eat last night."Are you always so…uptight?"

"Are you always so perverted?" She fills her plate up with food, and turns around to face me.

"What? Is there…like something on my face?" I reach my finger up to my cheek. _Nothing._ "Uh, no. Your face is clear, for the most part." She muttered the last part.

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"You have more earrings than me."

"Oh, you dig that? I have one for my eyebrow too." I smirk.

"No, I don't…_dig it_." She turned back around, and started walking toward an empty table. She placed her tray down, and I kept a close follow behind her. I dropped my tray next to hers, and sat next to her. The tables were white, and round. They had plastic blue chairs, that were not in the slightest comfortable, but that is not my main concern now.

She groaned when I slid the chair next to her. "You like it." I winked. _What is the matter with me? Normally, I don't act like this toward girls. I mean, sure I do. But, only when _they _want _me.

"Hardly." She scooted her chair away from me, and I shrugged and began eating my breakfast. She began eating hers too, only staring at her plate. She would not even glance up at me. _Jeeze, talk about stubborn. _

I drank my orange juice, and placed it back down on the table. I wiped my mouth with my hand, and wiped it on my pants. _Whatever_.

"So what's your story?"

"My story?" She placed her fork down, and looked at me. "What makes you want to know?" She asks.

"I don't know. Everyone has a story, right?"

"Wrong. Not me. There is nothing interesting, fascinating, or exotic about me." She says.

"Now, that isn't true. Yesterday, when we talked on the train you sounded excited to be here." I point out.

"So? It is one of the most important, scholastic, high school academies in America! Who wouldn't be excited?" She looked at the disbelief in my face, "Okay, don't answer that." She continued eating her breakfast.

"So…what's your story?" She asks.

"_My _story?"

"Mhm." She hums.

"Uh….my parents pulled me out of my old high school. I hardly even went to school. I've been in juvie a little less then one hundred times. My parents are both cops, actually everyone in my family is a police officer. The whole police officer thing goes back for three generations. Pretty annoying, actually. So of course me being, well me, I did not want to be like them. I started changing myself, and here I am today."

Courtney just stared blankly at me, as if I had not just told my life story. Well, I'm exaggerating, but still.

"Huh." She nods her head the side once.

"Uh, yeah. Huh." I say slowly, not sure what the hell 'huh' is suppose to even mean.

"So, what do you think?" I finish eating, and push my plate forward.

"Nothing." She shrugs.

"Nothing? You have to be thinking something."

"Yeah, I was thinking something, but that doesn't mean I have to share it."

She got up from our table, grabbing her tray and walked over to the trash can dumping it. My eyes followed her, I have to say she looks hot in black and blue plaid uniform skirt. She even makes the sweater vest she is wearing look good. _Damn._

She pushed her chair in and began retreating out the door. I got up and threw my stuff in the trash and began catching up with her. She pushed open the door leading us back out on the campus.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asks.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, you're following me around like a lost puppy, for one thing." I stopped walking. _She's right. I…I'm chasing her. Why?_ I cross my arms. "You could not be any more wrong. So I need someone to show me around, big whoop." I roll my eyes. She stops walking, and turns around to face me.

"Touchy ego, Dunkey?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Definitely not. God, I try to turn over a new leaf by hanging with the nice, smart girl, but she bites me in the ass, not literally, unfortunately, but you know what? Fine, blow me off, whatever, I don't care. See ya, never. Bye." I turned around, smirking and shoved my hands in my pocket, acting like what she did to me totally hurt me, but this is all a game. A game I've played many times. _Hell, I invented this game. Three…two…one._

"Duncan." I stopped, and smiled.

"No, don't bother, Courtney. I get the message."

"No, Duncan. Come on, I can show you around if you want." She walked over, and put her hand on my back shoulder. I turned my head, and she had a crease in her forehead.

"What do you say?" She asks.

I let out a long dramatic sigh, "Well, if you insist…I mean I don't want to cause you any trouble." I smirk again.

"Oh, shut up." She begins to giggle, and punches my shoulder.

"Where is your first class?" She reaches her hand down my back pocket. "Whoa, babe. I don't know you that well." I joke.

"Shut up." She pulls my schedule out, and reads over it. "We have English in the same hall, but not at the same time… but we have gym, history, and chemistry together."

"I'll say." I wink, and turn around

"Corny." She replies, and hands me my schedule.

I shrug, "Where is your first class?"

"Math."

"Ew." I say automatically. "Sorry, force of habit."

"I'll say. But, I guess math isn't so difficult. Just really boring." She replies. "Well, I think we should be going. It's almost seven thirty."

"I thought we were going to be like, escorted to class, or something."

"Well, only if you need to be. Hey, I'm new here too, but I've seen the campus before. I don't need anyone to show me around." Courtney says.

"Oh, well…see you around." I answer walking backwards.

"See you around." She repeats, walking backwards too.

I turn on my heel, and pull out my map of the campus searching for the English Hall. _It is in Dennor Hall, but where the hell is it? _I furrow my brow, searching through hurried students who were suddenly all around me. I started following a large group of kids, who seemed to know what they were doing, and where they were going. I tapped one of the geeks on the shoulder.

He turned around, looking completely shocked I touched him. He gasped before saying anything. Before I could say what I wanted to say, I was taken off guard by how geeky this kid really looked. Red ruffled hair, glasses, freckles, braces, an inhaler in his right hand, and he was dry heaving. _Holy…shit._

"Oh, uh. Yeah, hi. Do you know where Dennor hall is?" I ask quickly. Instead of answering my question like a normal human, this geek begins critiquing my uniform. "You know, you are not suppose to wear your uniform like that. The sleeves should not be rolled up like that, and your shirt needs to be tucked in. Oh dear, and your shirt is not buttoned all the way-

"Hey, zip it nerd! Just answer me, where is Dennor hall?" I demand.

"Gosh! Just follow me, I am going there now." The geek turned around and continued walking. I kept a good five foot distance between us. If I got any closer to him, the old me would come back and pound this loser into oblivion. That wouldn't make me look good, especially on my first day. _But, on my second day…that might change things._

I followed my personal geek into Dennor hall, and took a seat in a deserted desk. It was in the far right corner, near the back window. The room filled up quickly, and then a bell rang. A young teacher walked in, and closed the door behind her.

"Take a seat everyone, and welcome to your first day of English year three. I will be your teacher for the rest of the year, my name is Ms. Molina." Ms. Molina picked up a piece of white chalk and began writing her name on the board. "Ms. Molina. Not 'miss', not 'yo mz. Can I get sum help? Just Ms. Molina." She put the chalk down, and placed her hands on her hip, and smiled.

She is young, she has blond hair, and she is pretty smoking. I raised my eyebrow, and slouched down in my seat.

"Since it is only the first day I will go easy on you guys, I will now pass out a check list for this class. If I can have a volunteer, yes you in the front, thank you." She dropped a small stack of papers on a girls desk. _Isn't that the girl I met last night…she was really negative._ When I saw the girls face, I recognized the blue steaks in her hair. _Yep, that is her._ _What was her name…Jen? No, something like that._ She dropped my check list on my desk, "Hey." She says walking past me. _Gwen._ I nodded my head at the remembrance. I picked up the check list.

_One five subject notebook, a black or blue pen, must bring a novel with you at all times, we will have fifteen minutes of reading at the start of each class. One folder. We will be reading two different novels together with the class. There will be a lot of speaking in front of the class, and a few writing assignments. Be prepared!_

I folded the paper, and put it in my front pocket. I sat up straight, and Ms. Molina walked over to her desk and took a seat. "It is only the first day, so we will do a getting-to-know-you exercise!" The entire class, including me, let out an aggravated groan.

"I know, I understand, no one likes to reach out, and meet new people, but it's something we have to do. No matter where you go in life, no matter who you are, you always meet new people. So let us practice it now! Everyone write down your name on a small piece of paper. I will toss it into my pencil can, here on my desk, and then we will get down to it!" Ms. Molina grabbed her silver coffee can filled with pens and pencils, and dumped it onto her desk. Ms. Molina then began walking to each desk, and everyone placed their name in the can.

I looked over to the girl next to me, pulled out a sheet of paper. I tapped her desk with my index finger. "Uh, hi. Can I take some of that paper?" I ask.

"Sure!" She answered bubbly. She tore off a piece of the paper, and handed it to me, "Thanks." I mumble.

"Ohmigod! Maybe, okay, definitely, we should be like, new BFF's! My name is Katie, and my other BFF, Sadie and I don't have this class together! And like, at first I was so totally bummed, but Sadie was all like, 'cheer up girly! You'll have at least one new friend', and so I like, totally felt better! Then she was all like, 'oh no! what if I don't make any new friends' and so I was all-

"Stop. Talking." I growl, scrawling my name on the piece of paper.

"Oh, okay! Sure! Do you want to talk? Go ahead!" She grinned at me.

"No thanks." I mumble, and face forward away.

"Okay, later? Cool!" She squealed, as I dropped my folded piece of paper in Ms. Molina's cup. Katie did the same.

Ms. Molina put her hand over the top of the can, and began shaking it up and down while walking to the front of the room. "Alright, when I call your name, raise your hand. For every two names that are called, you will be partners! Your task it to come up with ten questions for one another. They _must_ be school appropriate, that is a definite. Okay, let's get to it!" Ms. Molina pulled her hand off the top of the can, and pulled out the first two names.

"Owen and Harold." Ms. Molina announced. The nerd from before, now I formally know as Harold, and a large, and I do mean, large dude put their desks together. Ms. Molina picked our the next two names. "Katie and Miranda." The girl in front of Katie turned around, and smiled.

"Gwen and Trent….Taylor and Brad….Noah and Lindsey….Duncan and Heather." Ms. Molina continued with her list, and I looked over at the angry looking chick. _Angry, but totally hot._ She pointed to me, and then the empty seat next to her. I stood up, and walked over to the opposite side of the room. I slid into the desk.

"What's up, babe?" I ask.

"Oh, gag me." She rolled her eyes.

I shrugged, and I put my hand out for a sheet of paper. She tore out a piece of paper and I took it. I pulled a black pen out of my pocket, and wrote my name on my paper. "Alright, babe. What is your favorite color?" I ask as I write the question down.

"Purple." She answers. "And enough with that 'babe' shit, it's annoying as hell." She rolls her eyes.

"Favorite movie?" She begins writing something on her paper.

"I don't know…Blood, Gashes, and Hacksaws 2, Revenge of Bucky." I answer.

"Ew." She sneered, writing down my answer. I struggled to think of another question to ask her. But she kept staring at me, and she just looked so…angry, and intense. She squinted her eyes at me.

"This is stupid." I decide, throwing my pen down.

"God, I know!" She agrees.

Ms. Molina walked over to us, "Kids you aren't working." She points out.

"Obviously." Heather rolls her eyes.

"Excuse me, Heather. I know you are probably new here, but I do _not _tolerate that sort of attitude in my class room. You can either cooperate, and listen like the rest of the class, or get out." Ms. Molina pointed straight to the door, her other hand on her hip.

I could tell Heather was biting her tongue when she did not respond. I smirked to myself, and Ms. Molina walked away checking on the other pairs.

I glanced back to Heather who spat out, "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything." I smirked.

"Yeah, but I _know _what you're thinking."

"I bet you don't.""Oh yeah? You probably think I'm a spoiled bitch, who always gets her way, and doesn't stand for anything. Well, guess what? You're right! So don't try anything funny, because I will get you back if you do." She threatened.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We just met, why so tense?" I ask.

"I'm not tense. I'm always like this." She says crossing her arms. I didn't say anything, I only raised my eyebrow.

"Next question." I mumble, picking up my pen again.

_It is going to be a long year._

**Thank you ALL for reviewing and reading! If you don't review, that is my only way of improving! Otherwise I'll keep writing the way I do, and we all want to do better! Anyway, thank you all again! Much love :)**


	5. We've Got Chemistry

**Hey everyone, thank you for waiting paitently for the next update! This one took me a while, and it is not very long, i've been procrastinating. :( I do promise my next update will be longer! I hope everyone has had a nice week! Thanks to my readers, and my reviewers. You are all truly amazing, and supportive. Much Love :)**

_Monday afternoon_

Finally, the day is almost done. Just one more class, chemistry. I found out I didn't have to go to P.E today, because it is only the first day, and since there are seven classes, and only six hours in a day, the schedule misses class seven, so I don't have history today.

I haven't seen Courtney all day. I hate science, a little more then I hate math, but today I'm looking forward to it. I mean come on, chemical explosions? Kind of sweet. But, so far I wish I brought a backpack. I've been lugging around a math book, and an Italian book all day. This school offers five different languages. Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Portuguese.

I opened the door to the chemistry lab, and the room was already full. The bell rang, and my teacher turned around. He had just finished writing his name on the dry-erase board, and stared at me, waiting for me to take a seat. Without saying anything, I walked straight to Courtney, and took the stool next to her at the lab table. She groaned, and rolled her eyes, and focused on the teacher.

"Welcome to Chemistry 101, I will be your teacher for the rest of the year, you may call me Dr. Sumner. Over the course of the year we will go over many topics, and do a few experiments every once in a while. It's a basic course, not too complicated. Any questions?"

I raised my hand, "Yeah, I got one."

"Yes?"

"Are you really a doctor?" Some kids snickered, and laughed a little. What's so funny? He said his name is _Doctor_ Sumner.

"Young man, I am not a doctor as in a surgeon. But, I do have my doctrine in science, and education. So in a sense…yes, I am a doctor." I blinked at him, and nodded my head. Feeling kind of stupid that everyone laughed at my question. But, whatever. I can pound everyone in here within a half hour, tops. Not that I would. Well, maybe just the geeks.

"Does that clear up your question?" He asks.

"Sure." I shrug.

"Good," He looked at the class as a whole now, "I will not be distributing Chemistry textbooks, but they will be placed in the back of the class room. We will be using them most likely each day."

The class let out a groan, and I just rolled my eyes. Compared to some of these other teachers, this guy is letting us off easy. "I know, I know, settle down." Dr. Sumner said over everyone's groans. "Since today is the first day, I constructed a small activity. Turn to the person next to you at your lab table, and play a game of twenty questions."

"Record your partners answers on this sheet of paper I am going to pass out. Then by the end of the year, we will reflect on the answers and see how we all changed by the come of June." Dr. Sumner dropped two sheets of paper on me and Courtney's lab table, and continued passing out paper.

I pull a pen out of my pocket, and wrote down Courtney's name on the margin. Then on the next line I wrote down the number one, "Okay, what is your favorite position?" I say immediately.

Just as immediately Courtney pulled her arm back, and punched me in the arm. "You're disgusting!" She accuses.

"And you're violent." I rub my arm.

"What is your favorite school subject?" She asks.

"Lunch."

"Doesn't count." She looks at me.

"Uh…okay, then P.E." I answer.

"Ew." she wrinkles her nose, and writes down my answer.

"When is your birthday?" I ask.

"May twenty third." I write down her answer, and she asks me the same question."October third."

"Any nick names?" I ask.

"Just Court. But, no one every actually calls me that…since well…well, my friends usually just call me Courtney." She finishes quickly. I rest my pen on the table. _She is definitely hiding something._

"Okay, come on. What's the secret?"

"No secret. Okay, let's continue, favorite animal?"

"I don't think so, we aren't moving on until I get the story out of you." I smirk.

"There is no story! Let's just move on, class is going to end in approximately thirteen minutes, we need to get these answers!" She began to whine.

"That's what I'm saying! So the quicker you get through the story, the faster we can go through these answers, and get out of here!" She sighed in defeat.

"Fine," She rolled her eyes. "When I was eight, I was given the nickname 'Princess', because I guess the other kids were jealous of my superiority, nice clothes, and good grades. Okay, next question what's your favorite animal?" She said quickly. I let this process in my head for a moment, and then said, "Whoa, Hold up, I don't think they called you princess for _those_ reasons."

"What do you mean?"

"You're stubborn. You whine a lot, you're commanding, and pretty spoiled. Like a princess." I leaned forward.

"I don't th-

"Uh, yeah, you are. Think about it, Courtney. What princess is _smart_?" She didn't answer me, she just stared at me, and then look back down on her sheet of paper.

"Favorite animal?" She grumbled.

I rested back into my seat. "Mongoose." She raised her eyebrows, and recorded my answer.

"Any brothers or sisters?"

"None." She responds.

"How many times have you been arrested?" She asks.

I look up at her shocked, she smirk. "Never, but I've been to-

"-Juvie a little under one hundred times." We said at the same time. "Yeah, I remember you told me." She says as an after thought, smiling.

"What do you like to do in your spare time?" I ask.

"Um…" She puts her pen down. "Reading, playing the violin, on occasion I do like to experiment with photography."

"Really?"

"Yes, but it's more of a hobby. My parents think it gets in the way of my other activities. So I only brush over it.""Other activities, how many do you do?" I ask.

"Your usual, violin practice, journalism, debate team, international club, crocheting club." She shrugs. I blink at her, "What?" She asks.

"Your usual? My usual consists of my ass on the couch, with the remote in my hand." She shrugs, "Where would that go on my college transcript?"

I roll my eyes, of course she is all about college. "Where do you want to go to college?" I ask her.

"I don't know for sure. Harvard sounds nice, maybe even Yale. Although, my first choice is Brown University."

"In Boston, Mass?"

"No, stupid. It's in Providence, Rhode Island." She rolls her eyes.

"Hey Princess, get with it, I'm not stupid." I tease.

"Shut up!" She swats my arm. I chuckle, and write down the name of the college she wants to attend.

"Longest relationship you have ever been in?" She asks.

"Never been in one." I answer.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. I mean I've dated, been in a couple of hook ups, but relationships aren't my thing. Too many mind games, pressure, and stress. Everything is easier when it's benefits only." I shrug.

"You're okay with that?"

"Clearly."

"Doesn't that bother you?" She questions.

"Doesn't what bother me?"

"Like, an empty feeling. A void."

"Mmm...don't get 'em." I shrug.

Then the bell rings. "Okay, class please drop your papers on my desk, and you are free to exit! Be back tomorrow, and ready to learn!" Dr. Sumner called out to the leaving students. I grabbed my books, Courtney struggled adjusting her shoulder bag onto her body.

"Wait, hold still." I drop my books onto the lab table, and grab the strap of the bag as she slowly puts her arm through the space. She pulls her hair out of the way, and I place the strap gently across her shoulders. "There." I murmur to myself, taking a step back.

"Uh…thanks. See you tomorrow." She grabbed her paper and placed it on Dr. Sumner's desk, and rushed out of the room. I did the same, and started walking back to my dorm.

**Thank you again everyone! This chapter was pretty short, but I figured I should at least put up an update! Enjoy :D**


	6. I Could Get Use To This

**Hello my fabulous readers/reviewers! Love you guys to pieces! :D Here's my next chapter, it's pretty lengthy! I'm working on the next one right now! I was thinking of doing it as a part one/part two thing but i figure it isn't necessary! I hope you guys like this chapter, you all seem to be enjoying the story! I love you guys so much! You all make me want to write more and more.**

_Monday night_

When I open the door to my room, Trent and Dj are already in the room. Dj was steadying a TV on a large coffee table. Trent was under the table, his legs tangled in different colored chords. Dj was dressed in shorts, and a t-shirt, as was Trent.

"Uh, are you getting anything, yet?" Trent yelled up to Dj.

"Nothing yet, bro." The TV flashed blue, and Trent groaned. He unplugged another chord, and the TV shut off.

"Hey guys." I say dropping my books onto the floor carelessly.

"'Sup man?" Dj asks casually.

"Nothing, how did you guys get here so fast?" I ask. I take off my blazer, and kick off my shoes. I drop my blazer on my bed, and knock my shoes under my bed.

"We had gym as our last class, and we got to skip since we aren't doing anything. So we figured we would set up this TV here." Dj explains.

"Yeah, it isn't so easy!" Trent shouts annoyed, and plugs in another wire. The TV screen turns black and white, and the screen goes fuzzy. Trent groans, and says "That doesn't sound good." He then pulls out the plug.

"Let me try, dude." I say. Trent crawls out from under the table, and I slide under. Dj adjusts the TV onto the coffee table, and I can feel him and Trent take a step back and watch me. I pull out the red cable, and the yellow cable. I switch their locations.

"Okay, try now." I slide out from under the table. Dj uses the remote to turn the TV on.

"Success!" Trent says.

"Awesome." I shrug, and make my way back to my bed.

"How did you do that?" Trent asks.

"I don't know, experience I guess." I say lamely. I plop onto my bed, and lay back.

"What do you guys think of this place so far?" Trent asks, walking next to our bunk bed and grabbing his guitar. Trent then walks over to the couch, and sits down.

"It's alright. Just school, right?" I say.

"Pretty much, but otherwise it's pretty nice." Dj says.

"Yeah, the people are great. A lot better than what I'm use to." Trent says, he begins to strum his guitar softly.

"Where are you from?" I ask.

"New Haven, Connecticut."

"I have a buddy who has some family from there." I say.

"Oh yeah? Anyone I know?" He asks.

"You might. His name is Geoff. He and I went to school together, we're best friends. But, his mom's side of the family are from the states." I explain.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about. Does he have blond hair, really outgoing?" Dj asks.

"Yep, that's him." I chuckle.

"I have my math class with him, funny guy. I actually invited him over to our dorm to hang. I guess it's a small world." Dj says.

"Agreed." I say.

Trent gets up from the couch, and goes onto the window sill, and begins to strum softly as he looks down on the campus. Dj lays back on the black leather couch across from the TV, in the center of the room. "Do any of you dudes have Ms. Clark for Psychology? I have her period four, God she is so boring. I felt myself falling asleep within the minute I walked into her room." I say.

The guys began laughing, "What's so funny?" I ask sitting up.

"Nothing man but," Dj snickered, "Why are _you_ in psychology?"

"What's that suppose to mean?" I ask.

"Nothing, nothing. But, I would assume you would be in something more…hands on." Dj says slowly.

"Yeah, like wood shop." Trent shrugs.

"What do you guys think I'm stupid, or something?" I ask.

I mean not for anything, they just met me. Besides, psychology isn't hard. It's like carrying around a fake flour sack baby for a month or something.

"That's not what we said." Trent says.

"Yeah, well whatever." I let it go. This time. There's a knock at the door, I swing my feet over the bed and walk to the door. Without checking through the hole to see who it is, I open the door.

"Duncan!" Geoff roars when he sees me. He is already changed out of his uniform and into his original pink button down shirt, and shorts.

"Geoffy! What's good man?" I move aside to let Geoff enter the room. I shut the door behind him.

"Not much man, nice room." Geoff says, taking comfort to my bed.

"Dj! Sup man?" Geoff says noticing my room mate. I move over to my suitcase, which I still hadn't unpacked and grabbed my black wife beater, and jeans. I change out of my white button down shirt, and thrown on my wife beater. I kick off my khakis and pull on my jeans.

"Hey dude. Glad you made it up here. I invited a few other guys up here too, If you dudes don't mind." Dj tells us.

"It's cool." Trent says, getting up and laying his guitar against the wall.

"Whatever." I shrug.

There is another knock at the door, and I return to open it up again. This time at the door was one guy I recognized from my English class, the huge guy who is like the size of a dome, but extremely cheerful. One scrawny looking guy wearing a red sweat suit, and a red sweatband on his head. There was one more guy, pretty scrawny looking, and small. He annoyed me but just looking at him.

"Hey, you're Dj's roommate, right?" The guy in the sweat suit asks.

"Who wants to know?""Oh! Well I'm Tyler. This is Owen, and this is Cody." he introduces. I nod my head, as if this is the most interesting thing I have ever heard.

"Oh, come on dude you know me! We have English together!" Owen says, his voice filled with excitement.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I like you." I say.

Suddenly, I felt the clasped of a big hand on my shoulder from behind me.

"Don't worry guys, this is my roomie, Duncan. He's just kidding. Come on in!" Dj says, leading the three guys in. I roll my eyes when they all walk past me, and shut the door after the last person entered. The guys pretty much made themselves at home. Tyler jumped on the couch, and turned on the TV. He turned on the ESPN sports channel, and Owen ran to our mini-fridge. That Cody kid joined Tyler on the couch, acting all excited over the basketball game on TV. He doesn't look like he has played a game of basketball in his life. Then again, neither does Tyler.

I go over to the recliner next to the windowsill Trent was sitting on. Trent put his guitar down, and leaned it against the wall. Dj upside down on his bed talking with Geoff from across the room.

"I have something I've been meaning to ask you?" I say to Trent.

"What's up?" Calm as a cucumber. If I've said those words to any guy back home they would be terrified. I guess Trent doesn't judge.

"What did you mean when you said the people here a lot better than what you're use to?"

"Pretty much exactly what I said. The people back home suck. I grew up in an extremely small town where everyone knows everything. My graduating class has only one hundred kids. There's a lot of drama back home, apparently girls are into that." he rolls his eyes, I nod in agreement.

"So when my mom came home with the pamphlet for this place, I jumped at my first opportunity. I figure I can start over here." he answers.

"I hear ya." I agree. "It's a bonus the chicks here are seriously hot." I think of Courtney for a second.

"Got that right." Trent puts his hand out for a fist pound, I hit it. "Anyone particular in mind?" He asks me.

"Eh…no one special," I shrug. "There's this one chick, totally hot. But, so anal. I can tell she wants me." I smirk. Trent chuckles, "Yeah, girls are pretty tough to figure out." Trent agrees.

"Oh is that the time already?" Geoff says loudly.

"Why what's up?" I ask him.

"I gotta go. I promised Bridge I'd meet her in the down stairs in our lobby for dinner." Geoff hops off my bed.

"Dude! You're not even dating this chick, and you're totally whipped!" I say.

"I'm not whipped man, I just really like her. Lay off." Geoff reaches for the door knob.

"Fine, mind if I join? I'd love to see what's so great about 'bridge'." I say putting air quotes around her name.

"I don't mind, come along. More the merrier, right?" Geoff shrugs.

"See you dudes later." I wave, and shut the door behind me.

Geoff and I take the elevator down to the lobby. The elevator door closes. "You don't mind me coming along, right?" I say to Geoff.

"Course not, dude. I want you and Bridgette to get along!" Geoff says.

"She seems pretty cool, I mean she doesn't piss me off. That's a good start." I shrug, and Geoff laughs.

"Man, you are too funny." Geoff says. The elevator door opens, and we take a step out. _I don't really see what was so funny, I was serious. _Geoff and I walk out of Willard Hall, and take short walk toward Geoff's dorm. Geoff filled me in on his schedule, turns out we have history together.

Geoff and I walk into the lobby of Brennon Hall, and Bridgette and Courtney were sitting together on the velvet couch, beside the book shelf.

_What a coincidence._ I smirk. They both were changed out of the usual school uniform and into their regular clothes. Or I think Courtney was. Does she always dress like she is going into a meeting? Does she even own a pair of jeans? Or really short skirt…

"Hello ladies." Geoff says, tipping his cowboy hat in Bridgette's direction. Courtney rolls her eyes. "Okay, I'll see you guys later." Courtney gets up.

"No way, come with." Geoff insists.

"Yeah, that could be fun." Bridgette nods.

"Duncan is already coming with us, you might as well too." Geoff shrugs.

"Gee thanks." I grumble.

"Thanks but, I don't want to be a fourth wheel." Courtney says.

"What's the matter, princess? Scared?" I challenge.

"Scared of what? It's like, six-thirty. I'm not five!" She whines.

"Are you sure?" I smirk.

"Yes, I am sure! In fact I am so sure, that I will come!" Courtney says.

"Cool." Bridgette says getting up from the couch. Geoff drapes his arm around her waist, and brings her close. Courtney crosses her arms, and the four of us begin walking out of the hall.

"Where do you wanna eat? The caf. Or the off campus restaurant?" Bridgette asks.

"I don't care where, but I'm low on dough." Geoff says.

"I wouldn't mind seeing the restaurant." Courtney says.

"You haven't seen it yet? Wasn't that in your itinerary when you took a tour of the campus?" I tease.

"Shut it! And it's an _off-campus_ place. Moron." Courtney sneers.

I roll my eyes, and the four of us begin walking out of the campus, and across the street to the diner. As we walk closer to the diner, Bridgette says "Have any of you guys been here before?"

"Nope." I answer.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten in there. I went to buy myself a pair of headphones when classes got out." Geoff answers.

"I've never eaten in there either, but I stopped in there to well, you know." Bridgette trails off.

"No, I don't know." I say. I don't bust a person's balls to be mean, or cocky. I guess it's just a habit.

Geoff rams his elbow into my stomach. "I think I can figure it out." I wince. Bridgette giggles as we reach the diner and she opens the door for everyone. I hear Courtney thank Bridgette as she enters.

The bell on top of the door dings when the door closes. The diner wasn't too full, or too empty. I guess you could say it was just right. "Let's grab a booth. Or do you guys want to sit on the stools?" Bridgette asks.

"Booth's good." Geoff says.

We seat ourselves in the blue and white leather booth. Courtney slides in next to Bridgette. I sat next to Geoff, I could smell his disappointment from a mile away. A waitress comes over to us, and hands us four menus then walks away. I already know what I want to eat, I've been craving a burger since nine-thirty this morning. Sick, right?

"How was everyone's first day of classes?" Courtney asks, sounding pleasant when discussing school. Someone gag me please.

Courtney has all of the qualities I want in a hot babe. Well, she has two out of my three qualities. Hotness, confidence, and spontaneous. When I was fourteen I decided these qualities were the most important thing in having a killer girlfriend/hook-up/casual dating thing.

Courtney is definitely hot. I knew that two days ago when I met her, and I know it now. She's a perfectionist, obviously. So she takes good care of herself, and doesn't let herself go to waste. She has really nice hair too…really good hair. She probably doesn't lather, rinse, and repeat, like it instructs on the bottle. Is it really necessary to do it twice? Maybe that's why her hair is so shiny. Clearly, I need help.

I grunt to myself, as the waitress comes back with a pen and small notepad.

"What can I get you four?" She asks.

"I'll get a Mountain Dew soda, and a double cheeseburger with everything on it, and fries." I say handing her my menu. She writes this down, and takes the menu then looks to everyone else expectantly.

"Just a side order of fries for me, and a water." Bridgette orders.

"Uh, same here!" Geoff says quickly.

Right, Geoff told me on our way to pick up the girls Bridgette was a vegetarian, and a nature freak. Maybe the term tree hugger sounds less harsh. Courtney orders a water and a plain cheeseburger, with no side order of fries.

Typical, she would order a super awesome meal and make it boring. Okay, maybe it's not a super awesome meal, but you get the picture. The waitress collects the other menus and walks away.

Bridgette, Courtney and Geoff go into this conversation about what the name of the little plastic thing at the bottom of a shoe lace is called, and I bring myself to quality number two that Courtney possess. Her confidence.

Seriously. She knows what she wants and she goes after it. It's hot, I barely know her, but I know she is that kind of girl. She isn't afraid of my either. She was the one who spoke to me first when we met on the train. That felt like weeks ago, instead of days. She was almost like a different person. Then she was a stranger. Now she isn't.

I guess that is where my list ends. The words Courtney and spontaneous don't work out. It's an oxymoron, or something. Courtney could never do anything against the rules, It isn't in her DNA.

"Aglets!" Courtney says triumphantly. "They're called aglets."

"Wild." I say bored.

"Excuse me for living." Courtney says dramatically, which makes me chuckle.

"You're both so dysfunctional." Bridgette laughs.

"No way, I'm the normal one! This guy-" she points angrily to me. "-is the psycho pyromaniac!"

I burst out into laughter, "P-pyromaniac? Really? How would you know that?"

"She's got you pegged, bro." Geoff shrugs.

"I know your type." Courtney says simply. My laughing dies down and I respond, "Oh and that is?"

"Well you claim to be dangerous, but I'm sure you have a huge soft side," she begins, Geoff and I exchange looks and laugh again. "You're a slacker, you like breaking things, you're obnoxious, and you LOVE getting on my nerves!" She finishes.

"Damn, girl you do have me pegged." I wipe a tear from my eye as my laughter settles.

The waitress came by again and placed down our drinks and walked away again. She throws four straws on the table, and walks away. I grab a straw and slam it down on the table a few times, until the wrapper goes down enough. I pick up the straw, with the wrapper still on the end of it, and blow on it. The wrapper flies off and into Courtney's face.

"Duncan!" She shrieks.

"Why aren't I surprised, they aren't getting along!" Bridgette says sarcastically to Geoff. I chuckle, "Princess, take a chill pill. It's just paper." I stick my straw into my soda.

"Don't tell me to take a chill pill, and STOP calling me princess!" She says angrily.

I shrug, and take a sip of my soda. The waitress comes back again with our meals and hands them to us. She takes out her notepad and rips off a sheet of paper which is our bill and places it on the table, and walks away.

None of us touch the bill and we begin eating. I devour my burger within minutes. I check the time of my cell phone, it's only seven-thirty, still early. We've got classes tomorrow, but so what? It's only going to be the second day, teachers are totally chill the first week of school. Or where I'm from they are. Well, I think they are. I guess I wouldn't really know, would I?

Twenty minutes later, and five burping contests Geoff and I held against each other I say, "So now what do you guys want to do?"

"It's almost eight. Go back to the dorms." Courtney says.

"Boooorriiinggg." I drawl.

"Whatever." Courtney rolls her eyes, and grabs the check. She takes out her wallet, and shows the bill to Bridgette.

"Is the bill on you ladies, why thanks." I smirk, and stretch my arms behind my head.

"Ha, yeah right." Bridgette snorts, and pulls out a few dollars.

"Hey Geoff, do you wanna check out some of the stores?" I ask him.

"Eh, what the heck? Why not. We only live fifteen minutes away from the campus. Curfew is at one."

"Actually, curfew is at nine o'clock." Courtney rolls her eyes. Courtney slides out of the booth, and Bridgette gets out too.

"How do you get nine and one confused?" I ask Geoff.

"I dunno man." Geoff shrugs.

The girls laugh and then their laughter started fading. I look up, to see they were gone. "Damn, they left us with the check!" I shout.

"Not the whole thing, dude. They paid for their meals." Geoff says.

I grab the money Bridgette left, and find that she left only two dollars and seventy five cents.

"Shit." I grumble.

There was a knock on the window next to me. I look over and see Courtney and Bridgette waving, and laughing hysterically.

"Damn, I think we just got played." I say to Geoff.

"You got that right bro. Hey do you have change for ten dollars?" Geoff says, opening his wallet up.

**NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON, MY LOVELY READERS 3 Thanks again for all of this support! I hope everyone enjoys their memorial day weekend! I am in the town parade on Monday with the school band (clarinet, whoo). Tomorrow I have a birthday party, and last night I had one too! So i'm glad I used today to its advantage and updated :]**


	7. Ugly Shirts & Mean Girls

**Hey everyone! Here is another chapter update! i got this one up pretty fast, I'm kind of proud! I already finished the next chapter too! Whoo! I'm on the ball! Don't you love three day weekends? I would just like to thank all of the troops who are fighting for my country now, past and present. You are all truly amazing and inspiring. Both my grandfathers and my uncle were in wars. Vietnam, Korean, and i'm not sure about the other one...but I think war is an evil thing. But, it's amazing how much love and respect the troops have for their country. May God bless them all 3**

**Okay anyways... :D Enjoy! Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews, as always you guys are, as my friend would say, "bomb-beast" XD i think she made that word up, LOL. 3 I love you guys! Thanks for all of this support, you make writing enjoyable.  
**

_Monday night_

"Dude, that is one ugly ass shirt." I grin to Geoff. We're in Waldon's. It's one of those really cheap retail stores. We have one just like it back home. Geoff is in the dressing room trying on a button down, red, loud Hawaiian pattern shirt.

"Seriously, Geoff. Ew." Bridgette laughs, coming out of the dressing room, wearing a strapless black dress. I whistle and she blushes. "Thanks." She looks at her reflection in the large mirror.

"It isn't me though. I just did this for fun. Come on out, Court!" She calls to her.

"No way! I'm changing out of this."

"You could come out while you're changing, seriously I don't mind!" I call out.

"Shut up!"

I chuckle, and Bridgette gives me a disapproving look.

"I like this shirt." Geoff says to himself, adjusting the collar. Bridgette rolls her eyes, and tries to get Courtney to come out again. "Come on, Court! This is just for fun, let me see and then you never have to try that dress on again. No matter how great it looks on you."

"Yeah, Princess. No matter how hot it could look on you, you don't have to wear it again. In all honesty, I would prefer if you came out without it on." I smirk.

Geoff high fives me, "Whoo! I'm on a roll." I say. Courtney groans.

"Court, don't listen to those _boys_. Just come out for thirty seconds. Twenty seconds, even."

"Fine." She sighs, and unlocks the door. I could see from the bottom of the door that she was bare-footed. She stepped out of the door, and I really thought my jaw physically dropped to the floor.

She looks _hot, _gorgeous even. The red dress stopped at her knee, the straps were thin, and the neckline was low, but not low in a trampy way(which usually, I prefer but I guess there is an exception for everything).

"Well, say something!" She sounds nervous.

"You look…wow!" I said speechless.

"Oh, well thanks." She smiles from ear to ear.

"Yeah, you look great, Court!" Geoff agrees.

"You look beautiful, Courtney! You should buy it." Bridgette says. "I'm buying this black one."

"Yes!" I hear Geoff whisper.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to buy it. I already checked the price, it's only fifty dollars." Courtney considers this. "Alright, I'll buy it. I'm going to go change." Courtney goes back into her dressing room, as does Bridgette.

"I'm so buying this shirt, dude." Geoff grins.

"Buy that shirt, and our friendship is over." I say.

"Be nice!" Bridgette calls out from her dressing room. Geoff chuckles, and unbuttons his obnoxious shirt, and slides on his old shirt. I give him a look, that reads _hello, public?_

"What? I have no shame." Geoff says.

The girls come out of their dressing rooms, with their dresses over their shoulders.

"I gotta admit, this is pretty fun. Besides being ditched with the bill to pay at the restaurant." I say.

"Hey, I left the tip." Bridgette reminds us.

"Hardly, tips today are fifteen percent, Bridgette. Cheap much?" Geoff shoots.

"She wasn't a friendly waitress!" Bridgette says.

"Okay, okay. Let's not fight! Let's go pay for our stuff, and we can head back." Courtney says.

"Head back? No way, it's still early. It's eight thirty." I say.

"Exactly, curfew is at nine. We better get going."

"Come on, princess. Where is your sense of adventure? Who cares if we miss curfew, what are they going to do? Expel us, tomorrow is our second day!"

"Exactly, it's our second day. First impressions are important. Now let's go!"

"Come on, Court! We're only five minutes away from the campus. That gives us time to check out at least one more store, please?" Geoff said, beginning to beg.

I got to give this guy a ton of credit. He rocks at this. He perfected this look at the age of four and a half, or so he says. His eyes get big, and he creases his eyebrow. Then his lower lip goes out a little further.

Courtney winced. "Have you practiced that look?"

Geoff immediately pulls the look away. "Yep, how'd I do?""Hm, ten out of ten." Courtney shrugs

"Okay, Court and I will pay for our dresses, you guys better hurry up and pick the store you want to see next, because we need to get back soon." Bridgette says.

"Wait, Bridgette can you buy this shirt for me? I'm tapped out because of dinner. I'll pay you back."

"Yeah, no. That shirt is hideous, Geoff." Bridgette and Courtney laugh as they walk away.

Geoff shrugs, and throws the shirt carelessly on one of the racks in the dressing room hallway.

"So you having fun, dude?" Geoff asks.

"Definitely." I respond.

"You know what? I think Courtney totally digs you." Geoff nudges me in the side.

"Nah, man. I think she's just into mind games." I say.

"I dunno, dude. I mean if she really didn't like you she would just ignore you. If she was doing mind games then she would probably flirt a little more, and keep you hanging on everything she says." Geoff explains. "Then again, she isn't like most chicks, so I don't know." Geoff says as an afterthought.

"Got that right." I laugh.

"So how about you? Do you like her?" Geoff asks.

"Me? Oh, uh. Nah. She's not my type." I shrug.

Why am I denying this? Usually, I would just be honest and tell a guy when I'm into a girl. Especially Geoff, he's my best friend.

"Word." Geoff says nodding his head.

"I think they're finished paying for their stuff. Let's head out." I say proceeding forward to the check out counter. The girls had their dresses zipped in large beige bags, Courtney had hers tossed over her shoulder, Bridgette held hers. The four of us exited the store together.

"Okay, last store. Let's make it quick." Courtney says.

"Keep your pants on." I say.

"How about we go into…there!" I point to the dim lit store. The neon open sign was lit, but flickering. The store turns out to be a psychic.

"A psychic? I don't think so." Courtney says dismissively.

"What's the matter, Princess? Scared of the future?" I tease.

"No, and quit that!" She says annoyed.

"Well, if you're not scared, let's go in!" I insist.

"I'm not scared, but I don't feel like having my palm read but some underpaid, rip-off artist." Courtney says.

"Courtney's right, besides the store looks like it's closed." Bridgette says in agreement.

Typical. The two girls team up. Lame. Two can play at that game.

"What do you say, Geoff?" I ask.

"Go for it dude. I'll wait out here." The two girls giggled.

"Come on, guys! Let's just see if anyone is in there. If no one is in there, then we can scram. Deal?"

They mumbled in agreement and followed me into the store. There was one large chair, with a purple velvet cover over the chair. There was a small table with a matching purple table cloth, and a cheesy crystal ball on top of it.

There were two black leather loveseats on either side of the door. I plopped down next to Courtney in one of the couches, and she wrinkled her nose. She placed the bag with her dress in it on the ground.

"Okay, looks like no one is here. Can we go? This place freaks me out." Bridgette says.

"Wait, I think I heard something!" I say suddenly.

"What! What?" Bridgette jumped.

"Bridge, chill. I'm sure it's nothing." Geoff put his hands on her shoulders.

Then the psychic came out from the back room.

"Hello, I've been expecting you." She says in this weird, low, creepy voice.

Courtney rolled her eyes. The psychic sat down in the chair. "What are you children here for?" The psychic asks.

"We're not children!" Bridgette says nervously.

"I want to see if you can predict my future." I say carelessly.

"That I can do." The psychic says. "Come sit in front of me." The psychic gestures to a stool in the corner. I grab the stool and bring it over.

"Would you like your friends to step out?" she asks.

"No, I'm good. Hey, what's your name?"

"You may call me Madame Leiveaire."

"Is that French or something?" I heard Courtney groan, and I chuckled.

Madame Leiveaire leaned forward, and looked into her crystal ball. She started humming to herself, and began mumbling. I rolled my eyes and waited patiently.

"Alright, I see struggle in your future."

"Story of my life-

"Shh! I am not finished! I see great conflict, with a loved one."

"Wow, 'kay thanks. Can I leave? I'm not buying into this anymore."

"You may leave. Anyone else care to have their future predicted?" She asks again, still speaking in that creepy voice.

"No, we're good! Okay, guys let's go!" Bridgette pushed the door open and ran out of the store. The rest of us followed, just not as quickly.

We started walking back to the campus, I checked the time on my cell phone again. Quarter to nine, not bad. Nine o'clock is still a lame curfew. If we could stay out later it would be so much better. I could even ask that psychic more questions, if she wasn't so lame.

When we get back to campus, Courtney shouts "Finally!"

"Yeah, yeah we got back here by curfew, whoo-fricken-hoo." I say.

"See you tomorrow, bro." Geoff says waving to me.

"Bye, Duncan. I had fun tonight!" Bridgette says.

"Yeah, bye." Courtney mutters to me, and half waves.

I laughed to myself as they walked away. I walked to my hall, took the elevator to my floor, and walked to my dorm. I tried to open the door but it was locked. I pulled my key out of my back pocket. It unlocked, but the door wouldn't budge.

Maybe this is the conflict the psychic mentioned, and she messed up on the loved one part. I knock on the door.

"Dudes! Let me in!" I shout. No response. "Dj? Trent?" I shout, banging my fist on the door more. I check my cell phone, it's nine fifteen. If someone catches me in the hallway after curfew I'll probably get in trouble. I groan, and slam my hand against the door.

Then I hear something moving inside my room, then the door opened. Dj looked exhausted.

"Dj! What's going on?" I let myself into the door. Dj shuts the door behind me, and then pushed a chair behind the door.

"Nothing, when you left me and the guys heard something really weird going on. Then the lights went out for no reason. When the other guys left Trent and I locked the door, and then put this chair in front of it."

I couldn't help but laugh, "So the ghost can't get into the room?"

"Don't mock me." I shrug, and go to my suitcase, and throw on my pajamas.

"So where were you tonight?" Trent asks, laying on his bunk.

"Checking out the off campus stores. Grabbed a bite at the diner, hung out with Geoff and some girls." I answer casually. Once I change into my pajamas, and toss myself onto my bed. Dj shuts off the lamp on his night stand.

"Anyone I know?" Trent asks.

"Maybe. Bridgette Callahan and Courtney Alderson."

"The really uptight girl?"

"That's the one." Trent chuckles.

"You like her?" He asks.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, why would you go out with her if you didn't."

"I didn't know she was coming." Trent doesn't say anything. Neither does Dj, but I'm guessing he fell asleep as soon as he fell asleep. I think Dj is afraid of the dark, so as soon as the lights go out he tries to fall asleep as quick as possible.

"What?" I say.

"I didn't say anything." Trent responds.

"Exactly." I sit up in my bed. "What are you thinking."

"I'm not thinking anything, dude."

"Whatever." I mumble, and fall back into my bed.

"Sweet dreams." Trent says.

"Yeah, whatever." I grumble, and try to fall into a deep sleep.

_Tuesday Morning_

Waking up today was a lot easier then waking up yesterday. The first thing I did was take a cold shower to wake myself up. It was a bad, cold idea. I threw on my uniform, grabbed my books and shoved them into a book bag mom bought for me before I left, and slung it over my shoulder.

I left alone for breakfast, Trent and Dj said they would meet me down there later. I grabbed a plate, and a glass of apple juice. I loaded my plate with toast and bacon. Not that Canadian bacon either, which I think is just ham. But, I've only had it a few times before.

I see Gwen sitting alone in the back corner of the cafeteria. She's writing in a journal with her tray of food pushed in front of her. All of the other tables in the cafeteria are pretty full, or partially empty with people I don't know.

I walk over the Gwen's table, and pull out a chair and sit across from her. She looks up and looks back down. She continues writing, and I start eating.

"What are you doing here?" She asks.

"Free country right? I can sit wherever I want." I respond.

"Yeah, I know. I meant to ask why are _you_ sitting with _me_?"

"Ow, I guess I'll leave." I say.

"NO! Don't, it's fine. Stay." She says quickly.

I smirk, she puts down her pen and closes her journal. She pulls her breakfast tray forward and starts eating some of the grapes off of it.

"It's just no one here has actually talked to me. Everyone here just assumes I'm a freak because I don't listen to the top forty countdown hits, and I don't totally love the skirts." Gwen says.

"I hate the top forty countdown music."

"I hate mainstream music." Gwen agrees.

"It sucks."

"Major." She nods.

"Favorite band?" I ask.

"That's a tough one. I love melodic metal core."

"Me too! Everyone I know hates that stuff, but if you listen to the lyrics-

-they're totally deep! I know!" Gwen finishes my sentence.

"Wild." I grin.

Gwen smiles. "Everything here is so lame. You're the first person here that I don't hate."

"Thanks." I half laugh.

"I guess I'm disappointed we don't have our English class together today." Gwen says.

"Yeah, that's too bad. It's our only class together, I think." I shrug.

"What class did you miss yesterday?" She asks.

"Social Studies." I say.

"Me too. I guess we have that one together too." Gwen smiles.

"Yeah, if it's in the same building." I point out.

"Hopefully it is." She says.

I nod my head. I finish chewing a piece of toast, and take a sip of my apple juice. I get up from the table and dump my remaining food into the trash can. I walk back to the table and that bitch I was partnered with for English was standing at my table.

"Well, I guess it's true. One is the loneliest number." She sneers.

"Step off, Heather." Gwen says, avoiding eye contact and writing in her journal again.

"Why don't you make me. Or are you too busy writing about your pathetic life in that journal of yours?" Heather snatches the journal out from under Gwen's hands, and goes through the pages.

"Give that back!" Gwen shouts, jumping up from her seat.

"Why? Do you have something to hide?" Heather girns, turning the pages, looking for something, anything, that could hurt Gwen.

"No! But that's personal!" Gwen tries to grab the journal, but Heather keeps turning around, moving the journal from Gwen's grasp.

"Oh, what's this?" Heather says in a sing song voice. With one hand, Heather pushes Gwen in the stomach, pushing her back against the table. Gwen's back hit the table, and she winced and let out a grunt.

"Dear journal, I didn't think I would like it here. Let's face it I don't." Heather was reading it so loud that the cafeteria fell silent.

"But, there are some positive things about this place. The food is half decent, the courses don't suck, and there is this guy." Heather grins, and shoots a look to Gwen. I look at Gwen who won't even look at me.

"He isn't like other guys, he's actually half decent. We met at orientation, his name is-

-That's enough, Heather." I say grabbing the journal as quick as I could, sparing Gwen as much embarrassment as I possibly could. Gwen gives me a thankful look, I hand her the journal. She takes it and her book bag and rushes out of the cafeteria.

"What?" Heather snaps, when she finds me glaring at her.

"What is your problem? What did she do to you?" I ask.

"She's a freak! Look at her! She doesn't belong her. I was just reminding her that." Heather crosses her arms.

"Oh, I am sure. Embarrassing her in front of the entire school is a real self-esteem booster." I roll my eyes.

"What? She shouldn't have anything to be embarrassed of if she's telling the truth. She wrote it in her journal." Heather says. She doesn't even sound a little guilty. It's so typical coming from a chick like this. Hot but evil.

"It's not the same, and you know it. Damn, your heart must be colder than an iceberg." Then I grab my book bag and leave the cafeteria, leaving Heather standing in the middle of her mess, with everyone staring at her, as I made my exit.

**I hope you guys liked that update! :D I'll have the next one up soon! I love you all from the bottom of my heart. Have a beautiful day, and a beautiful week!**

**3 peace and love, Johnna.  
**


	8. Astrology & Cosmology

**Hey everyone! Alright, this chapter is kind of short, but I am working on the next one right now! I can't believe it's already June! School is almost finished for me, I have exams in about ten days, I think. But this week of school is technically my last full week. Thursday is graduation for the seniors, who are all very incredible. I'm going to the graduation(i play with the school band, i went last year too! Seriously, it's so amazing). That's pretty much it, I guess. I hope everyone has a nice weekend, and enjoy the update! Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart. These reviews excite me, the anonymous ones too! Thank you, thank you, thank you anonymous reviewers! You guys are awesome too! 3**

_Tuesday afternoon_

I enter my last class of the day, social studies. Actually, I think it's an American History class, but I don't know. Nor do I actually care. Gwen was sitting in the far right corner, Courtney was in the front row and center. Thankfully, I spotted Geoff sitting randomly in the center of the classroom, with an empty desk next to him. I kind of wanted to sit next to Courtney, but I don't do the front row.

Gwen waved over to me, I nodded and smiled to her but sat down next to Geoff. I cut through the aisle, and rubbed Princess's right shoulder quickly as I passed by her desk. I heard her grunt to herself. When I sat down next to Geoff, Gwen half smiled at me, and sat forward not looking at me. Did I tick her off or something? Jeeze, I hope she knows what I did for her when she left the cafeteria.

The bell rings and a few more kids entered the room, following by the teacher. The teacher is a middle aged looking man. Brown hair, clean cut, nice shaved face. He wrote his name on the bored, and faced us.

"Welcome to Western Civilization, where you will be learning about cultures from all around the world. My name is Mr. Daniels, I will be teaching you for the entire year. Because of the schedule our class did not meet yesterday, but that's okay we'll catch up with the other classes in no time." Western Civilization? Lame. I would rather learn about a bunch of dead guys in a civil war than this.

"I will pass out this survey sheet for each of you to fill out. A quick fifteen questions so I can get to know you all better. Then once you have that completed you're free to talk amongst your peers. I am not distributing text books, they are all very old, and fragile and the last thing we need is to have them broken. For this class you will need a pen and a notebook every day." Mr. Daniels says as he walks up and down the rows passing out his survey sheet. He drops one of my desk, and I pull out a blue pen out of the pocket of my blazer.

I fill out the survey sheet as fast as possible. I scrawl my name on top of the paper, and get up. I drop the paper on Mr. Daniels desk. He peers up from the seating chart he was making.

"Finished already?" He says.

"Yep."

"Hm." he takes the sheet, and reads over it.

"Your favorite person in European Civilization is Joan of Arc. Why?"

"I dunno, she sounds cool, right?" I shrug.

I'm not even entirely sure who Joan of Arc was. She heard dead people in her mind, and thought it was God, or something. Then she lead an army or something like that. It just sounds cool, I mean hearing dead people. Or God.

"Right." Mr. Daniels says, perplexed. He puts the sheet down, and dismisses me by going back to his far more interesting seating chart. Once I sit back down, Geoff is finished with his survey, and is trying to scam two dollars out of the dork sitting in front of us.

"It's only two dollars, man!" Geoff says.

"I need the two dollars to save up to buy more allergy medicine when I run out!" The dork complains.

"You're not going to run out! I saw your stash, you have enough to last you forever!" Geoff says.

"Hardly!" The dork says in his raspy voice. Does this kid always sound like he is congested?

"Dork." Geoff mumbles as he settles back into his desk.

"I prefer the term, intellectually advanced student, GOSH!" The dork faces away from Geoff, and goes out to work

I snicker, and look back to Geoff.

"What do you need cash for?" I ask.

"I don't." Geoff smirks.

The final bell rings and every collects their stuff and exit the room one by one.

"Okay, so I'll catch you at dinner?" Geoff asks, pulling his backpack over his shoulder.

"Yep, save me a seat." I say.

"See ya, bro."

I watch Geoff exit the room. I pull off my blazer, and pull on my book bag. I hold the blazer with my fist. I don't have any homework again today, but my English teacher wants our class to find a word that stands out to us, and have us type a two minute presentation on what it means to us. It sounded kind of bogus at first, but I might actually do her stupid paper.

The class room cleared out fast, even Mr. Daniels left. Well, I guess he has nothing to worry about since each room in the school has a small security camera. The camera doesn't even look like a camera. It looks like a black globe sitting on top of the ceiling, upside down. I recognized it from most super markets, and shopping malls.

"Hey, Duncan." I turn around, and see Gwen. When she said 'Hey Duncan' she kind of sounded like she was asking a question. Like she was saying, 'Hey Duncan?', instead of plain old, hey. But, I digress. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I thought I was the last person in the room.

"Hi Gwen." I say.

"What's up?" She asks.

"Nothing, going back to the dorm, I guess."

"Oh." Gwen says quietly.

Here it is. The classic awkward silence.

"Oh well-

"I just wan-"

Gwen and I interrupt each others sentences.

"Uh, you first." I say.

"Okay, I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me today In the cafeteria, you know in front of Heather. I heard what happened, I was standing outside of the cafeteria. That's the first time someone did something….sincere for me. So, thanks." Gwen finishes.

"No problem." I shrug it off.

"Do you want to hang out sometime?" Gwen asks.

"I'm free now." I answer.

"Cool." Gwen replies.

I learned that Gwen is pretty cool. A lot more normal than I thought. But, I'm sure most people think the same about me. Well, not most people. Okay, not any people because no one has ever gotten to know me. Besides my parents, and Geoff. Maybe Courtney and Bridgette. But, they're chicks, so they don't count. Where I'm from everyone judges you by appearance. The guys automatically assume I'm a bad ass(which I am) because of how I look. Grannies are afraid of me, I never date and if I did dad's would hate me, and mom's would fear me. It's a lonely life, really. At first I did find some satisfaction in being inferior to everyone.

Gwen tells me she was transferred here because of a bad bullying experience at her old school. Originally she went to a private school, her mother taught there and she got to go for free. But, then she was picked on by a lot of the girls, and bullied.

"When I was a freshmen this one girl, Amy Simpson, literally _cut_ my hair, and tried to tell the teacher I went AWOL and did it myself." Gwen says.

"You're shitting me, right?" I ask.

"Nope. That's why I keep my hair so short. It use to be pretty long, and not as dark as this shade of black. But, I like it like this…the blue too." Gwen says.

"Wow, what a bitch." I say.

"You're telling me." Gwen sips a cup of coffee.

We're in the on-campus café, near our Hall. It was closed yesterday. Another thing I learned is that Gwen loves coffee. So while Gwen has her coffee, I'm drinking water, and we're sort of venting and chilling about our past lives, you could say.

"What's your sign?" She suddenly asks.

"Uh….I don't know." I say. "My birthday is in April." I answer. **(A/N OKAY, I KNOW I SAID HIS BIRTHDAY WAS OCTOBER 3****RD****, IN A PREVIOUS CHAPTER BUT THAT WAS JUST SOMETHING RANDOM. I DIDN'T KNOW GWEN & DUNCAN WERE GOING TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION…OKAY THANKS!)**

"Before or after the twenty-first?" Gwen asks.

"Before. April fifteenth." I say.

"Aries." Gwen answers.

"Hm." I nod my head, having no clue what that even means.

"It makes sense. You're independent, courageous, not so much with the whole optimistic, enthusiastic, part but you're pretty generous too." Gwen says.

I snort, "Thanks."

"Your weaknesses are moodiness, short tempered, self-involved, impulsive, and impatient." Gwen smiles triumphantly at the memory.

"Me, me, me, me, and also me." I say. "How do you know all of this?"

"I was into astrology and horoscopes when I was fourteen." She shrugs. "I use to study this stuff like it was my religion."

"So what's your sign?" I ask.

"Aquarius, January twenty-eighth." Gwen smiles. "Witty, clever, humanitarian, inventive, and original." She says.

"What about conceited?" I ask.

"Hey! I also have weaknesses." She says.

"Like?"

"You don't need to know." Gwen sips her coffee.

"Spill it." I say.

"Stubborn, unemotional, sarcastic, rebellious, and aloof." She mumbles.

"Which are all true, I can already tell." I laugh.

"Jerk!" she accuses.

I shrug and drink my water.

"What's a May 23rd birthday?" I ask.

"May 23rd? Gemini. Energetic, clever, imaginative, witty, and adaptable. Weaknesses are superficiality, impulsive, restless, devious, and indecisive."

"Are all astrology strengths and weaknesses right?" I ask.

"Not always, but I like to think so." Gwen says.

"Interesting." I say.

I know what some are you thinking. Why would I want to know Courtney's sign? I'm really just interested in knowing more about her. More than she is letting me know. Courtney doesn't let anyone in, and I don't follow the rules.

"Yeah, it's pretty fun. Especially when you get to see which signs are compatible and which signs clash. According to astrology we're highly compatible. It makes sense, we get along just fine." Gwen smiles, and drinks her coffee.

"Yep." I say.

Gwen looks at her watch. "Well, it's getting pretty late. I better get going and start brainstorming for Ms. Molina's paper." Gwen gets off the stool in the café, and grabs her book bag.

"Yeah, me too." I say.

"Thanks for the small talk, Duncan." Gwen says as she walks out of the café. I wave goodbye from inside the store, and she smiles, returning the wave.

**Thanks again for the reviews and the reading! I love you guys! :D New update coming soon, I promise!  
- Johnna 3**


	9. It's Going Down

**Hi everyone! This update took a while to write, I've been in a slump/getting ready for my final exams. Tomorrow is graduation, I hope everyone who graduates knows they have a beautiful and bright future in front of them :D. Enjoy this update, and I will have a new update soon for you guys! Hugs for everyone oooooo :P**

_Friday afternoon_

So that whole homework thing? It's not my forte. Besides it's Friday. Don't these teachers have lives? Why assign us homework on a Friday? These teachers must think we have no lives because we're stuck here in this boarding school. Wrong, me, Geoff and the guys made plans to go down to that plaza again for some bro time.

Another thing? It's still the first week of school! I was assigned to do a math ditto, and some Western Civilization research on someone who was famous in European history, like from hundreds of years ago. Both assignments are due on Monday, so I guess that means I will _do_ them Monday. Logic, right?

But, I have been staring at my math worksheet for about a half hour, because for some insane reason I thought it would be a good idea to do some of it now. But, I guess my brain and my hand aren't coinciding.

"Hey man, what's up?" Trent opened the door to our room and walked in. He tossed his bag on the ground, and climbed up to his top bunk. I heard him sigh in relief of his bed.

"Nothing. Just…sitting here." I say, and toss my work sheet under my bed, knowing I won't do it today anyway.

"Where's Deej?" Trent asks.

"I dunno. I think he said something about the library earlier."

"Are the five of us still on for tonight?" Trent asks.

"Five? I thought it was just us four." I say.

"Yeah, but I invited that Cody kid. I felt kind of bad, Geoff and I were talking earlier, and Cody kind of overheard, and I asked him to come along."

I growl annoyed.

"Aw, come on. He isn't _that_ bad." Trent says.

"He isn't bad," I say. "Just annoying as hell. I have four classes with the dude!"

"I'm sure he'll grow on you." Trent says.

"I hope you mean that metaphorically."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you never know with that kid."

We both crack up laughing. Cody is a slightly scrawny kid, a few inches shorter than me. Brown hair, crooked teeth, and a pretty large ego. He doesn't think he's above anyone, or anything like that. He thinks he's this big ladies man, and that all the girls want him. They don't. But, you have to admire his persistence. He's also a huge nerd. He loves comic books, and junk like that. But, other than that I guess I don't have a problem with him. It isn't like any girl I'm interested in, is interested in him back.

"Man, it's like the first week of school and some of these teachers have already given me homework." Trent complains.

"I'm with you man, I already have a Western Civ. Assignment." I grunt.

"I think we have the same teacher, Mr. Daniels?"

"Yup."

"Yikes. He's pretty rough. He hates my class. I have that obnoxious chick Heather, from English in that class with me. She's seriously harsh. She practically bit my face off when I told her to calm down." I couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Trent asks.

"Nothing. But," I contemplate whether I should tell Trent about what happened with Gwen the other day in the cafeteria. She never said I couldn't tell anyone, and it's not like it's some big secret.

"What?" Trent asks.

"Well, a few days ago Heather was freaking out of Gwen, you know from English? Black and blue hair.""Oh, yeah. I know her." Trent says.

"Anyway, Heather started ganging up on her, and took her journal and began reading it out loud, for absolute no reason. She's harsh."

"Oh man, poor Gwen. How did she take it?" Trent asks, climbing down from his bunk.

I shrug. "Not so well at first. She's fine now, we talked it out." I say.

"Good to know." Trent says, taking off his blazer and hanging it up in the closet. "So…Duncan. Do you have a girl back home?" Trent asks casually.

"Nope." I say, resting back onto my pillow.

"Anyone in particular you like here?" Trent crosses the room, unbuttoning his shirt searching for a new t-shirt to wear.

"I've got my eye on someone, yeah."

"Anyone I know?" Trent finds a shirt, and throws it on.

"Probably." I shrug. I don't know if he has any classes with Courtney. But, I'm sure they've met before.

"Probably? Who are you talking ab-

The door swung open, and Dj came walking in with his backpack on his bag. It looked half his size. Dj had his usual beanie on his head, and he was dressed in his uniform still.

Dj dropped his backpack on the floor on top of Trent's and passed out on the couch.

"Sup, man?" I say casually.

"Ow." He groans in response. "Too…much…work. And it's Friday!" He complains. Finally, someone else who sees things the way I see them. Trent chuckles, and crosses the room and sits back in one of the recliners.

"You still down for going out tonight?" Trent asks Dj.

"Definitely." Dj says, smiling. "I say after we grab some food, we teepee the girls side of our Hall."

"Alright, Dj my man!" I grin. "Great idea, dude!"

"Thanks, I was thinking about that instead of working on my English paper for Mr. Talbot." Dj grunted.

"Nice, I say we buy some whipped cream cans, and toilet paper and strike the girls hall around midnight. That's usually when all of the Room Advisors are asleep." I suggest.

"Whoa, guys. Is this a good idea?" Trent says cautiously.

"Why not? It's not like anyone would know it would be us. Besides, it's still the first week of school, if anyone is caught, they'll go easy on us." I say, totally relaxed. I've pulled this sort of stuff a million times before.

"What about the cameras?" Trent points out.

"I don't think there are any cameras in the halls." Dj answers.

"Sweet." I grin.

"Well dudes, if we're going to do this, we need to plan this out." Trent returns my grin.

"Yeah that's what I'm talking about!" I cheer.

Trent grinned and began planning, "Okay, here's what we should do…"

_Friday Night_

The five of us already bought the stuff for the girls hall raid. We've decided to do me and Geoff's halls, since we know the girls who live there, and it'll be funnier this way. Geoff didn't want to do his at first, because of Bridgette. But, I convinced him otherwise. I would pay to see Courtney freak when she sees the mess tomorrow morning. We bought whipped cream, shaving cream, silly string, tons of toilet paper, and Vaseline. The Vaseline is for wiping on the door knobs, so when they go to open their doors, it's too slippery to open! It'll be classic.

Now we're in the diner Geoff and I were in earlier this week. There are a lot more people here tonight though. The waitress drops off our food, and Geoff totally goes all out with his meal. It's makes me laugh, last time we were here he wouldn't eat anything close to meat, because Bridgette was here. Not tonight, so far he had a basket of buffalo wings, two refills of Coke, and now he's eating a double cheeseburger.

"I think I'm gonna make my move." Cody suddenly says.

"Move on what?" I ask.

"Yeah dude, what are you talking about?" Trent asks, opening the ketchup bottle.

"There's the girl I've totally had my eye on since I met her. We took the same train to the school, and we've sort of been talking since orientation."

"Define, 'sort-of-talking'." Dj says.

"Like, small talk." Cody says.

"Who's the girl, do I know her?" I ask.

"Uh yeah. Her name is Gwen." I snort, and Trent looks like he's choking on his French fry.

"Dude!" Dj cries, and slaps Trent on the back. Trent coughs up his chewed up food into a napkin. That's sick. I don't know if it's the good sick, or the disgusting sick.

"Here, drink some water." I push Trent's water glass toward him, and he takes a long sip.

"You good?" Geoff pauses from stuffing his face.

"Sure." Trent slowly goes back to eating his food.

"Yeah, anyway dudes, I think tomorrow afternoon when she sees the mess in the hall I can help her clean it up, and I'll see how it goes, and ask her out then." Cody finishes.

"Are you sure you wanna do that?" I ask.

"Yeah, why not?"

"What I meant was, are you _sure_ she likes you?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Here's the problem. I _know_ Gwen does not like Cody. I mean Cody? CODY. Seriously, he's like Gwen's anti. I have no idea why he would like her. I mean, I do know why he would like her, but what connection do they have? Gwen belongs with someone who has the same common interests as her.

"Maybe you should wait it out." I suggest casually.

"Maybe you're right." Cody says thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I think Duncan's right." Trent suddenly says.

We all look at Trent, who is continues trying to get the ketchup out of the bottle. Geoff is still stuffing his face, too busy to pay any kind of attention to the situation.

"What are you guys staring at?" Trent puts the ketchup bottle down.

"Nothing." Dj responds. The guys go back to their food and start talking about school and fall sports.

Dj and Geoff are both thinking about trying out for football. Cody wants to be on the Academic Decathlon team, and Trent is already in a guitar class so he's looking forward to helping around the music department. I don't have anything specific to look forward to. I don't know what I'm good at, or what I like. I've always sort of liked Hockey, though. Football is too contact for my liking, and the idea of wrestling appears gross to me. Although, I was on the wrestling team my first year in high school. Then I quit, but I'm sure you all know I can't stick to anything.

But, I can't help but realize, I think Trent has a thing for Gwen. Not like a crush, or anything. The term crush sounds childish to me. I really do think something is there. I'm surprised I haven't caught it sooner. A couple of times this week in English, Trent always stops by Gwen's desk and starts a conversation with her.

Something kind of stupid and irrelevant, like about how the food tastes in the cafeteria, or homework for the math class they apparently have together. I don't know what is going on, but I have to know what's going on. If there's something in my head, like a small thought it sits there and scratches at my brain until I get my answer.

Believe me, I will get my answer.

Three hours later we were wrapping everything up. This place looks sick. There's toilet paper everywhere. Trent and Geoff rubbed the Vaseline on every door, and Dj sprayed whipped cream at the food of every door. So that way tomorrow morning when the girls step out, they'll step into their first surprise.

Cody and I threw toilet paper everywhere. We rolled it around the floor, over the doorknobs, and all over the side tables, with the little plants on top. It took us twenty minutes to do, a personal best record for me. The guys and I fled the scene asap. Now we are all back in my room for the night. All of us are staying in my room, this way Geoff and Cody aren't caught wandering around at one thirty in the morning.

"I gotta hand it to ya, boys. We did good." I say grabbing a water bottle out of the mini fridge in our room.

"Yeah, I've never done anything like that before! That was awesome!" Cody says, he plopped on my couch, and laid back.

"Those girls are going to be so screwed tomorrow!" Geoff laughed.

"There's no way we can be caught, right?" Dj asks, going toward his bed.

"No way, we're in the clear." I say.

"Besides the worse they can do is make us clean it up." Trent shrugs carelessly.

"Yeah! We so rock!" Geoff cheered.

"Geoff, what are you gonna do the second Bridgette finds out you were part of this disaster" I ask laughing.

"Shut up, man!" Geoff says. "You don't think she'll find out, right?" Geoff asks paranoid.

"You never know." Trent smirked. _Nice, he's learning from me._

"Oh shut up." Geoff said, grabbing one of my pillows and whacking me in the side of the head with it. He then found a spot of the floor, and rested his head on the pillow.

Dj shut the lights off, "Okay guys, let's get to sleep. We don't want anyone to hear us, and suspect anything." He says."Fine with me, I'm exhausted anyway." I say, jumping onto my bed, and collapsing backward.

"I just can't wait to see how it is all going to go down tomorrow." Geoff says.

I laugh, and close my eyes. I couldn't agree more.

**I hope you guys liked that one, sorry it was kind of boring, and pretty short. But, the chapter will be better! 3**


	10. Boys and Girls: Whipped

**Hi everyone! Happy Saturday! I've been crazy insane with my final exams this week . I have five exams this week, and no school Friday! So HELLO SUMMER! This means more time to write for you guys ;) A lot of you guys had great expectations for this chapter. Sorry, if it doesn't succeed them, personally it probably doesn't :( I would make it better, but I don't want to keep you guys waiting and waiting, and I've had writers block :O. But, that doesn't mean i'll stop writing. I love you guys, thank you so much for reading & reviewing time and time again.**

_Saturday Morning_

Tell me, how _wrong_ is it to be woken up at seven-thirty in the morning. On a Saturday, nonetheless. Seven-freaking-thirty? This time it wasn't Dj's alarm that woke me up. It was the shrill scream coming from the other side of our hall. It's amazing how far a girls voice can travel. They're like, on the other side of our building. But, I guess it wasn't one scream that woke me. It was multiple screams, coming at the same time. The running around, the anger, the complaining. That's what woke me.

I sat up in bed right away, and I noticed the other guys were slowly awakening to the chaos. Geoff sat up from the floor and looked straight at me, with a huge grin.

"Wanna go check out the riot?" I say.

"Totally." Geoff's grin widens, and we rush to the door.

We open our door, and see a group of girls running around in our hall, looking for our Dorm Advisor to send their complaints. This had to be the best idea I have ever had. These girls are still in their pajamas, and some of them are seriously hot! A lot of them were walking around our hall, with whipped cream whipped all over their feet, sticky hands, and toilet paper wrapped around their ankles.

Geoff and I held back our laughter. I caught sight of Gwen walking past my room looking infuriated.

"I can't believe this!" She says to me.

"Whoa, what happened?" Geoff asks, wide eyed. I stifled my laugh.

"Some jerks totally tee-peed the girls hall! So we're trying to find out who it was!" Gwen says.

"Oh….well wouldn't it be better to complain to the D.A**(A/N D.A-Dorm Advisor, in case you guys didnt know!)**?" I suggest.

"Maybe, but we so want to kill who did this to us. The idiots have to live in our hall to have access to it." Gwen says.

"Uh, uh, m-maybe other halls were tee-peed too." Geoff stammers.

"Maybe." Gwen bites her lip.

"Okay, we'll let you know if we hear anything, I gotta get back to sleep. Bye Gwen." I say as fast as I could, and slam the door shut.

"Oh, they're so onto us." I say.

"What? No they're not." Geoff says.

I walk quickly to my dresser and start changing my clothes.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Cody asks.

"I'm changing my clothes, and I'm going to the girls hall to see what they're planning. Geoff, maybe you should come with me so we can check out your dorm." I throw on my shirt, and run my fingers through my Mohawk. The green coloring in it is fading, I need to find a close hair salon, or whatever to fix it.

Geoff nods his head, and grabs his clothes from last night and starts changing too.

"What do you want us to do?" Dj asks.

"Nothing now, just chill here. We'll call you if we need you." I tell them.

"Fine with me." Trent says, his head hitting the pillow again.

"Lucky bastard." I grumble, I hate waking up early.

"You ready?" Geoff turns to me, and slides on his opened pink shirt.

"Let's roll." I agree, and we exit the room.

Geoff and I walk as quickly as we could to the girls hall, avoiding every angry looking girl, and dorm advisor as we could. A lot of annoyed looking girls eyed us, probably assuming it was us. It's the whole image thing, that's what makes me a prime suspect ninety-eight percent of the time. But I do love to remind the judge in court; everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

"Why are we down here, we don't know any of the other girls in our dorm hall, besides that Gwen chick." Geoff reminds me.

"No, there's one more girl we know." I say stopping at room G611. I knock on the door a few times.

"Who?" Geoff raises his eyebrow.

The door swung open, and Heather looking angry as always answered the door. She had whipped cream covered up to her ankles, and on her face. Her hands were sticky from the Vaseline, and her hair was knotted in tangles. I tried. I really did. But, I couldn't stop laughing.

"Stop it! Stop laughing!" She demanded me and Geoff to stop. You know that feeling you get when you laugh so hard, it hurts? Then your laugh goes silent? I was getting that feeling right now. Geoff was lucky enough to control his laughter and stop. He put his hand on my shoulder, trying to balance me up.

My laughing slowed, and finally calmed down. I took another look at Heather and it tried to start up again, but I held myself back.

"What do you want?" She snapped.

"Morning to you too, sunshine." I grin.

"Shut up!" She snarled, and slammed the door in our faces.

"That was fun. Hey Geoff, let's hit your building. I so wanna see Princess' face when she sees how damaged her place is." I say keeping my voice low.

"I'm with you on that dude, but won't the girls be suspicious? Ya know, why would we visit them randomly?" Geoff says, following me out the building.

"I dunno, we'll feed 'em some kind of bullshit." I shrug.

"Whatever you say. But, after this I'm done with lying to Bridgette." Geoff says.

"Whatever man, you've gone soft." I hide my smirk from Geoff.

"I have not!"

"You so have, you're whipped." I tell him. It's natural, it was bound to happen to Geoff eventually. It happens to every guy, but it won't happen to me. It was only a matter of time until Geoff found some girl who laughed at his jokes, was really cute, and was actually straight with him. Now Geoff will fend to her every motion, until she dumps him for some tool, and Geoff is torn for a month or so.

I've seen it happen a million times.

Like I said, it won't happen to me. The way I see it, love isn't even out there. Sure love is an emotion, but whatever amazing experience, feeling, emotion, whatever people are looking for? It isn't real. I'm glad I realized this three years ago, I would have wasted so much time if I didn't know.

I don't think relationships are a waste of time. No, those are alright, I guess. I mean they aren't for me, but they're alright. I think it's easier to casually date, hook-up, and let it rest. Find a new person. It's like marriage and divorce. Isn't divorce like a big break up? Except more people know about it, because it becomes official in documentation and crap. That's pretty intense. Like, if you sign this paper you can no longer love this person. Marriage is a load of bull, no one should ever get married. Unless they want a death wish.

I can't wait until I'm older, then I can date whoever I want, for as long as I want. I won't ever get mixed with one of those girls who want a relationship and a commitment. When they see me they'll know what I'm all about. Every single person I have met has judged me. So what makes a bunch of different girls I'll meet in the future any different? The way I see things, everything is going to turn out amazing for me. I know it.

Geoff and I made our way to his dorm. We wandered around for a little while looking for the girls hall, but when we heard the shrill screams from girls, we knew we were in the right direction.

Of course, I recognized Courtney's scream out of all of the voices. We entered the girls hall. All of the doors were wide open, girls were panicking, and screaming. Some girls wiped the whipped cream off their feet using the toilet paper we left them. Most girls shouted questions like, "What is this crap on the ground?" or "Ohmigod why is the door all slippery?" It was a funny sight. I wish I had my camera.

"Geoff? Duncan? What are you guys doing here?" Our heads snapped forward and saw Bridgette walking toward us. When she made her way to us, she grabbed a piece of toilet paper off the side table, and started wiping her hands on the material, and wiping her feet.

"Hey Bridge…looks like you guys were-

"Tee-peed? Yeah, we were majorly." Bridgette sighed.

"It's pretty sick down here." I note.

"I hope you mean that as a bad thing." Bridgette says. "All of the girls are totally peeved, we're going to find out who did this to us."

"There was a raid in my dorm too. So whoever did this must live in one of those two other buildings that weren't tee-peed. Benjamin Howard, and Felicity E. Ghram." I say quickly.

"Good point, Duncan. Thanks." Bridgette says. She turns back to Geoff. "I'm going to go clean up, see you at breakfast?"

"Totally." Geoff grins. Bridgette sends him a wave as she walks back to her room. When her door shuts, Geoff turns to me. "Dude, I owe you.""Yeah, don't start owing me now. I've had your back forever, man."

"Got that right." Geoff and I exchange a fist bump, when we hear another door slam. I glance up, most of the girls got over the whole raid and went back in their rooms to clean up. But, no. Not this girl. Of course not this girl, I should have known. I've known this girl for about a week, and she never backs down.

"What are you doing here? You don't live in this building." Courtney walks up to me. She was wrapped in her purple robe, and her arms crossed. Her hair was wet, and stopped at her shoulders. _Hot._

"Geoff and I both had raids in the girl's hall in our buildings. We thought we would check it out. See hot girls running around in their pajamas, you know scam some numbers." I shrug. So the last part isn't true, but it's so fun watching Courtney get mad, I can't help myself. Sometimes I don't even realize what I'm doing, I just say stuff.

Courtney barked a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, wow. What gentlemen. You disgust me." She glares at me.

"Mellow your yellow, babe. I didn't do anything." I let a smile pass. Courtney continues glaring at me.

"I'm not so sure." She drops her arms, and the glare.

"Believe what you will."

"Why does it feel like everything you say to me is a joke, or that you're mocking me?" Courtney asks.

"Beats me, princess."

She rolls her eyes, and storms back to her room, avoiding every puddle of mess on the ground. She opened the door with the sleeve of her robe instead of using her hands. Evidentially she already fell for the slippery door knob joke. As she opened the door I called after her, "Nice outfit, so much better than your usual attire." She didn't respond, she rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut.

"Duncan, man. Why is it every time she comes around you act so different?" Geoff accuses as we walk out of the girls hall.

"I do? Hm, I didn't notice." I lie. I can't help it if Courtney brings out the best, I mean worst, in me.

Geoff chuckles, and punched me in the shoulder. I slipped my hand in my back pocket checking for my cell phone. "Dude, I think I dropped my phone. I'll meet you in the cafeteria, 'kay?" I stop walking.

"Want me to help you find it?" Geoff asks.

"No, save me a spot at breakfast." I insist.

"Fine dude, see you down there." Geoff shrugs and walks out of the hall. I wait another minute until I'm sure he is gone and walk back down the hall to Courtney's room. Truth? I didn't drop my phone, I didn't even bring my phone with me. I shove my hands in my pocket and stroll back to Courtney's room. I knock on her door casually, and it immediately swings open. Courtney changed out of her robe into a pair of black shorts, and a white tank top.

"Hey baby, you didn't have the change for me." I wink.

She replied with a disgusted groan, and opened the door a little more. "What do you want, perv?"

"I wanted to see you." I smirk.

"Oh did you? Sorry, I already changed out of my robe. You missed the peep show. You're disgusting, you know that?"

"Who said I wanted to see you out of your robe anyway? Don't flatter yourself." In response to her embarrassment she blushed.

"Well, what are you doing here? I don't have all day to talk to some pervy, ex-criminal!"

"Gosh, that hurt!" I say, putting a hand on what I think is my heart.

"Yeah, it hurt so bad you forgot where you heart is." Courtney rolled her eyes, and reached her hand out and placed it over my hand. She slowly moved it over to where my heart is. I silently gulped and watched her face closely when she dragged our hands together.

When she noticed I was watching her, she immediately pulled her hand back, and brushed it against her side. I cleared my throat, and dropped my hand.

"Well, anyway. I just thought I would stop by and say 'hey'." I shrug.

"That's all?" Courtney's in disbelief.

"That's all.""Really?" She raises her eyebrows.

"Really." I confirm.

"Oh, well…okay." She pauses. "Why?" She asks, sounding shocked this time.

"Do I need a reason to see you?" I cross my arms, and lean against her doorway.

"Not unless we're dating." She backs out of her doorway and starts to close her door, but I put my foot in the way, stopping the door.

"Duncan!" She snaps.

"Just give me a second." I say. She huffs, and opens the door a little more this time.

"You're so irritating! You have twenty seconds, or I'm slamming this door. Believe me, I don't care if I squish your toes!"

"Fine, fine. I want to ask you something." I begin.

"Yes? Fifteen seconds." She reminds me.

I roll my eyes. "Fine, Courtney do you…."

"Yea?" Her eyes soften.

"Want to…" I continue slowly.

Her eyes widened a little as I dragged the question out.

"Spit it out!" She almost shouts.

"Oh, wait! Is that thirty seconds already? Well, gotta go. See ya around, Princess!" I pull my foot out of the doorway, and begin walking down the hallway.

"Duncan!" I hear the squeak of the door opening all the way. "What do you have to ask me?" She shouts.

"If you really want to know, meet me at the off campus library tonight, at seven!" I walk backwards, as I call out to her. She didn't respond, she walked back into her room and shut the door.

She'll be there.

**HAPPY SUMMER TO EVERYONE, I LOVE YOU GUYS! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING. New update coming soon!**


	11. A New Perspective

**HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL OF THE SUPPORTIVE DADS, GRANDPA'S, UNCLES, AND THE ONES YOU LOVE! I hope you all have had a great day, and even if you don't have a dad or your father is out of the picture, remember there is always someone who cares for you! Sorry this update really took a long time! I have had writers block/laziness/stress. I am DONE with school for the year! Tomorrow is the first day of summer & TDWT premieres on Cartoon Network tomorrow! Or i think it does...hmm...**

** BAD NEWS: I am going to SUMMER SCHOOL. I never thought I would have to go to summer school . I passed my math class for the year with a 68, but you need a 70 to move onto the next course, so I need to go for 15 days Mon-Fri 8 AM to 10 Am. Ugh! But, I had a feeling this would happen, and I do NOT want to take the course over again, so this is for the best. Plus it isn't SO bad.**

**GOOD NEWS: of course I will keep writing, and you guys will LOVE this chapter. Or well, you'll definitely love high lights of the chapter. **

**Thanks again, forever and always for you guys. I don't know what I would do without my amazing readers, who I all know are out there, adding this to your alerts, and favorite stories/author(which makes me feel so fuzzy inside!) & Also thanks to the reviewers who take the extra time to leave me a message, giving me advice on my writing, or just commenting on the story! It's really great to see that you are all enjoying this fanfiction, and it does a lot to my self-esteem :D I really do want to be an author now. **

**Finally, a SPECIAL THANKS to Devil of Hearts; She had asked me to write in a character for her & I did it! Kendall, your character isn't in the chapter fully, but she is introduced and she is mentioned. I will be putting her in more in the futrue!**

**Gosh, this is long...Anyway, I LOVE YOU ALL! HAPPY SUMMER! :D  
**

_Saturday 4:00  
_

**Courtney P.O.V.**

Not to be the typical girl, but I have NOTHING to wear. I have already gone through my draws three times, and I have lined out several different outfits but nothing looks good! I can go with my pink skirt and white polo shirt, a pair of jeans and my purple plaid shirt, or my blue skirt with a white button down shirt and sweater vest over it. But, I think that last one is a little too much.I bite the inside of my cheek and consider my options, again. I bite my cheek when I'm nervous. Force of habit. Habits are for the weak. But, we all have them, so I guess we are all weak. But, I can't be weak. I'm invincible, I'm tough, I can do anything. Or so my parents want me to believe.

The sooner my parents realize I'm nothing like my sister, Sierra, the easier life will get. My sister is a year older than me. She's like the golden child. Sierra and I always got along fine growing up. But, living in the shadow of someone so…perfect, was becoming too difficult to bare. She's part of the reason why I wanted to escape course I wanted to come here because this school is amazing, but leaving my family behind was a definite bonus. Sierra can play two instruments, the viola and flute. Where I only play the violin. Don't be confused, the viola and violin are very different. Okay, not _very_ different. They're still different.

Sierra wins several awards for academics as well as her artistic talents. She paints beautiful landscapes, and makes great sculptures every now and then. Sierra is the first born, parents love both children equally, but the first born is always loved differently. They were loved first, they were born first. Everything was like an experiment, and Sierra was a great experiment, since she can do everything perfectly.

Mom and Dad put her in the best private school in our county, they put her in the best extra curricular lessons and classes. Anything that could make her excel. With me they didn't do so much. The difference between her and I is she enjoyed everything. I didn't. I hated dance lessons, I only stuck with the violin because I didn't want to learn the clarinet, and I don't have the patience to just sit down and paint a picture for hours. The only thing I sort of enjoyed was lacrosse. My lacrosse schedule became too complicated with everything Sierra did, so I eventually just let it flail. Like everything else I have every tried.

I'm not a quitter. When something gets too complicated, or too hard for me to handle I don't quit. Everything else I stopped doing because I didn't enjoy it. There's a big difference. Who keeps doing something because it makes others happy? You can't please everyone, the sooner you learn that the easier everything family is suppose to come down and visit sometime soon. We have a long weekend coming up in two weeks, and they want to see how everything is going. I'm not too worried, because they'll only stay for a day and be gone. I don't have to worry about Sierra taking this from me too.

My sister is a good person. I love her with every being of me, I really do. But, I don't share. She doesn't belong here. We never went to the same school because Sierra has been going to the same private school since kindergarten. Mom and dad sent me to a different private school, one that wasn't as I heard about Abbott Academy, I had to come here. I worked twice as hard to keep my grades up, I did more extra curricular activities, even if I hated them and kept them up until I was enrolled here. Now I'm able to start over, rest myself. Be myself without the pressures of my family.

But, I don't want to think of family tonight. Or Sierra. Tonight is just me and Duncan. Crap. Maybe I should bring some of my books to study, and get some assignments out of the way. Some of these teachers here give us killer projects to do and close deadlines. I check the clock for the millionth time. I run my fingers through my wavy hair. I love my hair. It's naturally brown with light highlights. It has never been color processed, ever. Sierra and I are similar in hair color. I cringe at the memory. She has really great hair too. It's perfectly straight. I wish my hair was straight. So it would be organized, like me.

I could straighten my hair, but I don't have the time for that now. I grab one of my only pairs of blue jeans. I'm not much of a jean person. I think they're okay for Saturdays and for cleaning. But, I don't want to over dress for this…whatever it is, and I don't want Duncan to be a perv. and have him stare at my legs in a skirt. Jeans play it safe. I take my purple quarter-length sleeved shirt, that has the random store logo written across in green stamped onto it, out of the closet. I put it over my head and it fit nicely. Finally, I take my pair of brown slip on clogs.

I look into the full length mirror. This is good. This is safe. My door opens, and I jump at the slam of the door hitting the wall. I roll my eyes, it's Eva. My psychotic roommate. Thank God I have Bridgette keeping me sane. Just barely, though. She is always busy. If it's tryouts for the new sports season, or hanging out with Geoff. She's only here for when she does homework. Lucky for Bridgette, she was given all the sane, easy teachers. So she barely gets any homework.

"What's this?" Eva asks in her deep voice. I turn around and see her holding the toilet paper mess from this morning. The bottom of her shoes had the remains of whipped cream on them, and her hands looked sticky.

"Looks like the remains of the teepee mess from this morning." I answer.

"I can tell that much, I want to know why is it here?" She growled.

"You could have said that." I muttered.

"What was that, weakling?" She snarled.

"I don't know why it's still out there, Eva! The janitor never cleaned it!" I throw my hands in the air stressed.

"Well, I don't like it!" She said again in her husky voice, and stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. A minute later I heard the shower begin to run. I exhale. I use to go to therapy to work out my little stress and anxiety disorder. I was taught to inhale and exhale. It really works too. I didn't want to go to therapy, very few people know I use to go to therapy. Only my immediate family knows. I don't want people to know I'm weak, vulnerable. I'm fine now. I'm not crazy, or anything.

I checked my watch on my wrist. I grabbed my brown suede book bag and slung it over my shoulder. Maybe it will come in handy tonight. I walked out of my room and made my way to the library. Who knows what I will find.

As I expected I arrived first, and Duncan was late. Relentlessly, I took a seat at the round table in the back of the library, near the huge window. I put my bag on the table, and pulled out my Western Civ. Notebook. I am seventy-five percent done with my paper. I decided to write mine of Mozart. He is my favorite composer, I love symphony number forty. It is one of my favorites. Classical music relaxes me, it isn't my favorite kind of music but I find it beautiful.

I pull out my black ink gel pen. I love this kind of pen. The way it writes is awesome. Then you can watch it dry, it's a quirk of mine, but I don't care. I hate quirks, this one I keep to myself.

I begin to reread things I already jotted down, I abruptly stopped when I felt a pair of hands grip onto my shoulders. I dropped the pen onto my notepad and whipped my head around, revealing my own worst nightmare, Duncan.

"Oh, it's just you." I say in half relief that it wasn't an axe murder, but half disgusted that it wasn't someone better.

"Who else would it be, I asked you here didn't I, I'm surprised you showed." Duncan countered the table, and sat next to me. As if it was force of habit, he immediately began drumming his fingers against the table. I stare at him and wait for him to say, well, anything.

"What?" He stops drumming his fingers.

"Say something! Why did you make me come here?" I slump my head down, using my right hand to steady my head. My fingers locked in my hair as I waited for his response.

"I dunno, Princess. I wanted to spend some time with you, I guess." He says.

I can feel my cheeks burn red. Great. They get all splotchy when I get like this. Not that I like what he is saying, or anything. Apparently Duncan noticed my face turning red, and began to chuckle. Typical Duncan, he had to say something.

"What's up, Princess? You flattered?" Duncan smirked.

"Shut up." I mutter, picking my pen back up and I try to focus back on my paper. But, I can't.

"Oh, crap I have to do that paper too."

"I know. I have the class with you, remember?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Yeah, I remember."

"I'm surprise you notice me at all in that class, you're practically with that Gwen chick twenty-four seven." I blurt out.

When I realize what I had jut said, my hands immediately flew to my mouth covering it up, as if I could take back my words. My eyes widened, and I stared at Duncan, who simply smirked. Of fricken' course.

"Shut up!" I say immediately.

He chuckles "I didn't-

"I said _shut up_!" I narrow my eyes.

"Fine." He responded smugly.

I tear away my gaze from Duncan and pick up my pen and try to focus back to my paper, again.

"Princess, put the pen away. Come on let's go do something!" He whined.

"I thought this was the 'something' you wanted to do." I sigh.

"Yeah, but I'm not feelin' it here. Let's go do something adventurous! I need to burn some energy, let's go!" He jumped up, and put his hands on my shoulders again, giving me chills circulating throughout my body.

"Stop that." I say quietly.

"Stop what?" He's perplexed.

"Nothing." I mumble.

I push my chair back and collect my things shoving them into my bag. I get up and sling the bag over my shoulder, and turn around. I push the chair back in and face Duncan. The edges of his lips smirked in amusement that I was going along with his stupid-yet-to-be-revealed idea.

"Let's go." I give in and he chuckles. He takes my wrist and tugs me out of the library. I pull my wrist back.

"Don't touch me!" I command.

"Sensitive." He mutters.

I fall into step with Duncan unsure if I should be doing this. _It probably isn't too late to turn back and go back to my room._ Approximately seven minutes later with no speaking whatsoever Duncan and I stop walking.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"Shh, give me a minute!" He whispers harshly.

I roll my eyes. As if this whole thing is one huge secret.

I took in out scenery. I'm not even entirely sure where we are. I know we are on campus still because we just walked pass one of the dorms. I distinctly remember sneering at it, because Bridgette and I formed a theory that it had to be the Benjamin Howard dorm. Those kids are super sketchy looking, and some of the boys are definitely capable of doing this to the girls. I don't see why they didn't attack their own hall instead.

"Okay, we're good." Duncan, more gentle this time, took my wrist and led me down a small hill, or maybe it was a large slope, once we got to the bottom I was struck in complete awe. I didn't think anything close to this would be on campus, I didn't think anything this beautiful could exist.

It was almost like a miniature waterfall. It was still pretty large, but of course not as big as normal ones. It was pretty misty and cool down here, there was green grass everywhere, and trees all around. The trees were beginning to change colors, but were still pretty green for the most part.

It's quiet here. All you can hear is the water flowing downward. I can't hold back a smile, I grin. I take in the scene, and turn toward Duncan who is staring at everything too.

"Where did you find this place? It's beautiful." I say in awe.

"I found it today, actually. Not too long ago. Instead of working on one of the thousand projects I have to do, I went for a walk. I wanted to go tag some trees," He pulled out a pocket knife, and I tried not to be scared or surprised. "But, this slipped out of my hand and fell down here. So instead of tagging trees with my signature skull look, I decided to just hang here." He shrugs like he didn't just find the most beautiful place ever.

I dropped my bag and walked closer to the water and sat at the edge of the small pond. The water was a few feet deep, and a foot below me. I stretched my legs out, and put my arms back to support me up. Duncan plopped down next to me, and stretched his legs out too.

"Nice, huh?"

"Beautiful." I agree.

"I thought I'd share this place with someone. Then I figured, why not you?" He continues.

"Wow, Duncan. Thank you for sharing this with me." I am flattered. More flattered than I should be because normally I hate Duncan. Duncan and I despise each other. It's the way our routine works. Even though I will never admit this, and I still have trouble admitting it to myself, there is something there between Duncan and me.

But, if he wasn't such a jerk all the time maybe I would warm up to him a little more! All I feel for him is just a strong attraction. But I bury that attraction under the deep depths of my mind.

"Well, don't think anything of it, Princess." he says cockily.

I roll my eyes, and ignore Duncan, as usual. Again, the jerk in him ruins everything.

"Whatever." I mumble.

"You know, Princess normally I wouldn't be so open with a stranger, but you're different." Duncan starts.

"I am?"

"Yeah, you're not clingy or all over me, or begging me to give it up to you." He drawls.

"Excuse me?" I try to keep my voice calm.

"Please, you know you want me." He says cockily.

"I do not, get over yourself!"

"De nile is not just a river in Maryland." Duncan says.

I groan and shake my head, "You're such a dunderhead."

"Thank you." He winks at me.

I can't even respond to this anymore. Duncan gets up and takes a few steps back. Then he takes a running start and jumps into the water. I let out a scream as the water splashes onto me. He floats back to the top and whips his green and black hair back. He grins and looks at me.

"Oh, I don't think so." I say immediately looking at the water.

"Don't be such a priss, get in!"

"I am not being a priss!" I get up, and accidentally stomp my foot.

"So prove it, and move it! Jump in!"

I laugh and kick off my shoes. I jump into the water and give in and let go. As soon as I jumped into the water all my clothes were soaking wet, and sticking to me. This is something I would never do, but today I don't care. I can't stop laughing either, when I get close enough to Duncan I grab him by the neck and pull him under water. I keep laughing as his arms start waving around. His strength over comes mine, and he comes back up to air.

Duncan has a huge grin on his face and I have one to match. I bite my lip and he moves closer to me, closer than we were before. Then the laughter died down, the smiles faded a little bit and we both began leaning closer.

And then he kissed me.

And I kissed him back.

**OH SNAP.**

**love you guys**

**forever in my heart :') New update coming soon!  
**


	12. The Unperfect Kiss & Mohawk Brush Ups

**Hi beautiful people! I hope you are all doing well! TDWT Finally premiered on Monday! I was so excited for it! It turned out pretty well, this show has gone so insane they can get away with anything and everything now. But, I love it. Lmao. I saw this spoiler preview of Gwen & Duncan and uh yeah, i think you guys know what I'm talking about. But, I won't say because some of you guys may not have seen it yet, but I was SO UNHAPPY WHEN I SAW IT. Like, I'm so paranoid the writers are going to screw up Duncan & Courtney. Like, I cant even -_- lmao.**

**Anyway, back to the 'real world' *cough* fanfictions are real! *cough* I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! It seems like you are! I love you reviewers and readers! You're all so precious to me :) Give me some feedback and let me know how I am doing! Sometimes when I reread my own work, it feels like I have too much dialogue going on. I think that's because when I'm writing, i'm picturing a TV show going on in my head. Even though I do have a lot of description, and character thought, it always feels like something is missing! I'm still searching for that something, I guess lol. If you know what i'm lacking, LET ME KNOW ASAP! haha!**

**I love you guys, i'm happy I have some people to share my TD obsession with. :P I can't wait for Monday night! Enjoy this chapter, everyone! Thanks for everything**

***hearts*  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Total Drama series or the characters :( **

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^^^^ PLEASE READ IF YOU DIDN'T :D

_Saturday night_

**Duncan P.O.V.**

I've never kissed a prep before. But, I would be lying if I said I didn't like it. I kissed Courtney while the sun was setting, in the water, and I think a few fireflies came out at the time. A total chick-flick movie ending, right? Wrong. As I began to deepen the kiss, she put her hands on my chest and pushed me back.

"Oh my God." She blurted out.

"I know right? That was great, come here." I leaned toward her again, but this time she slapped me right across the face. I let out a yell.

"Ow! Courtney! What the hell was that?" I shouted.

"Huh? What? I don't know!" She answered perplexed. She pulled herself out of the water, and ran her fingers through her wet hair. I rolled my eyes, and pulled myself out of the water too.

My shirt stuck to my body and I pulled it off, then wringed the water out of it. Courtney faced me again, and her mouth quivered a little when she caught sight of my body. I couldn't fight my smirk. It's like my mouth has a mind of its own.

"You are _such_ an ogre!" She spat out.

My smirk fell, and I cocked my eyebrow. "Really, then what was up with that kiss that just went down fifteen seconds ago?" I shot out.

"What kiss? That- that never happened." She was making this clear to me.

"Says you." I cross my arms.

"Yeah, says me! Who is going to take your word over mine?" She challenged.

"Tons of people. Especially the guys, and well you know how guys are."

"You wouldn't!" Ah, see how little she knows me.

"I would." I confirm.

"Great! You're seriously going to blackmail me with one kiss? Jeeze, it meant nothing, you know that right?" She tried to calm down her panic. She finally faced me, and dropped her arms to her sides. Her eyes softened, and her forehead creased.

What finally made me feel like shit was when she frowned at me. Not the usual I'm-so-disappointed-that-you're-not-normal-frown, but a genuine please-don't-do-this, frown.

I groaned and gave into her. I bet if she didn't kiss me I wouldn't be giving in. Then again, if she didn't kiss me this wouldn't have happened.

"Fine, whatever. This can be our secret." I say, still with a hint of protest in my voice.

"Yes! Thank you so much, Duncan." Courtney wrapped her arms around my waist in a hug, and then I immediately pushed her away from me, even though I didn't really want to.

"What did you do that for?" Courtney asks.

I try to ignore the fact that she looks totally hot when she is dripping in water. Oh, and that her shirt is basically transparent now, and I can see her bra. But, chicks know when you're not making eye contact with them, and then they know where you're looking, or staring.

"I didn't do anything. I only did what you did to me." I answer.

She sighs, "Duncan I only did that because it is for the best. There can never be me and you." She answers easily. What is this? Some kind of math equation. Courtney is really smart. I've known her for less than two months and I already know she is probably one of the brightest kids out of the entire junior class. But, she is being really stupid right now. I can't wait to be the one to tell her.

"You know, you're being really stupid right now."

"Excuse me?" she's taken back.

"Yeah, you are." I look back at my shirt which is still cold and wet, and I drop it on the ground.

"Feel free to explain at your earliest convenience, Duncan." She deadpanned.

"Fine. I will. You think it's so easy to toy with someone's emotions. I may be an asshole, I may be a delinquent, but that doesn't mean I don't feel the same things you do, Courtney. You're a tease, and you like to lead people on, don't you?" Once I start, I can't stop. I kept saying everything like word vomit, even stuff I didn't really mean.

Courtney stood there, speechless, for once, and agape listening to me. Another first, I might add.

"So what? I sound like a total sissy, douche-bag, wimp, babbling on and on about my feelings. It's like some alien came and switched my brain so now every time I think about you I _want _to be near you."

"Duncan. Stop." She commands.

"Why should I?" I lean over and pick up my shirt, and throw it back on.

"Because, you don't know what you're saying! For all I know you're lying, and you're just saying a bunch of things to 'get with me'. Quit it!"

I don't even respond, I just shake my head and start walking up the hill again, and retreat back to my dorm. Leaving Courtney. Leaving that kiss. Leaving. I heard Courtney following me up the hill.

"Duncan! Where are you going?" She needs to know.

"Back to my room, I'm soaking wet if you haven't noticed, _dear_."I spit out.

"Duncan, why can't you just reason with me for a minute?"

"Stop chasing me, Courtney."

"I'm not chasing you! You know what? Fine! Go away! I don't want to see you." I stopped walking for a second. Then I continued walking, up the hill and began walking back to my dorm. Alone. At night. Sucky Saturday, that's for sure.

_Sunday_

I didn't get any sleep last night. I love me some sleep too. But by the time I got around to going to bed, it started raining. A good thunderstorm was going on and I usually like listening to thunderstorms. When I was seven I was afraid of thunder and lightening storms. My older cousin Jessica use to tell me to not be afraid, that the sounds of thunder were only having a conversation with the sound of the rain.

It's stupid to think back on now, but something I still hold onto. I really like thunderstorms now. Dj on the other hand, hates them. I could practically hear him shaking all night last night.

"Deej, are you alright, dude?" I had asked him around midnight, when I was just getting into my bunk.

"Uh yeah, I-I'm fine." I could tell he was lying by his stutter.

"Fine, G'night man." I flipped the light switch and fell into bed.

A streak of lightening flashed against our window, and a roar of thunder followed by it. I heard the creak of Trent's bed screech, as he sat up.

"Whoa, did you guys see that lightening?" Trent asked.

"Not really." I respond.

"Yes!" Dj squeaked.

"Wild." Trent's bed squeaked again as he laid back. While Dj remained sitting hunched over, with the blanket covering half of his face. The thunder took another roar, and Dj let out another squeak.

"You sure you're okay Deej? I'll switch beds with you, you can't see the lightening from here." I suggest.

"Uh, yeah sure. If you don't mind."

"I don't care." I grumble, getting up.

Dj got up out of his bed too and we switched beds. Dj comfortably fell into my bed, and I crawled into his. I'm not a fan of not sleeping in my own bed. But, I figured if I switched with Dj I would be able to get some sleep, and he would stop squealing.

Well, Dj stopped squealing around 12:30, and I on the other hand didn't get any sleep. I think sleeping in another bed contributed to this. Probably because I kept facing the picture of Dj and his mother, and I like sleeping on my side, instead of on my back or my stomach. I turned the picture over so I wouldn't have to stare at it, but by then I was too awake to fall asleep.

At nine I rolled out of Dj's bed. The guys were still asleep, but I slipped on my jeans and red chucks. I pulled on my black t-shirt, and shuffled down stairs and started walking to the cafeteria for breakfast. I haven't worn my usual dog collar neck piece, or my earrings. I still have them but I'm use to not wearing them now. There's a rule or something about wearing more than two earrings at once, yeah I know it's so messed up right? So I don't wear any now. I don't wear my dog collar neck piece anymore, in fact the only thing I've kept since I got here was my Mohawk. And now the color in that is fading.

On my way to the cafeteria I started kicking the same pebble all the way until I reached the entrance. I tugged the door open and slouched as I walked to the food line. A saw the familiar small petite body, with dark hair and blue streaks in front of me.

"Hey Gwen." I greet tiredly.

She whipped around and smiled, "Hey.""I haven't seen you around in a while."

"Yeah, we haven't really talked." She agrees.

I don't know why, but I'm more chatty than usual today. I move behind Gwen in line and fill up my breakfast tray with tons of food. I'm starving and I need the extra energy since I got zero sleep last night.

"You're fading." She suddenly says.

"Excuse me?" I smirk.

"Your hair. It's losing its touch. I can fix that for you, if you want."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"What do you think my hair has naturally blue highlights? I brought a bunch of different hair dye colors with me. The dye lasts extra long so I don't have to keep coloring it."

"You got green?"

"Definitely. You can come by my dorm after we eat. Or I can go to yours." Gwen sits at the small secluded table in the back. I take a seat across from her.

"Sounds good, I'm not doing anything better today."

Unexpectedly I got a laugh out of her. "Okay, I'll come by your place later."

"Room J208." I tell her.

"I'll be there." She smiles.

I like this. Having a friend that's a girl that doesn't cause me any drama or annoyance.

"Why can't more girls be like you?" I blurt out.

I watched as Gwen's pale cheeks turned red. Great.

"Uh, don't answer that." I chuckle. "I didn't mean it that way."

"No, it's cool." Gwen says calmly.

Gwen and I finish eating twenty minutes later. I go back to my room, and surprisingly no one is there. Dj and Trent must have just left to grab some food, or to play some ball. There's a pretty sick basketball court on campus.

I grab a chair and place it in the bathroom in front of the sink and mirror. I take off my shirt, and leave on my white muscle shirt. I toss my shirt carelessly on the floor. There was a sudden knock at the door. I leave the bathroom and pull the door open.

Gwen stood at the door with a small smile on her face. She was holding a basket of hair supply and products. I stepped aside and let her in.

"We have like seven different colors in here, plus I have hair gel, hairspray, four different kinds of styling brushes, and more." Gwen gestured to the basket.

"That's a lot of hair supply."

"Yeah, it's stuff I've collected and saved for a while. So let's get started?" Gwen sounds rushed. I don't why, she said she wasn't doing anything else today. Or was that me who said that? Anyway, I don't see why she would be uncomfortable helping me, she agreed to it earlier. Gwen goes into the bathroom to set everything up. I follow her in, and watch her as she takes out the green hair dye, and a pair of scissors.

"First I want you to wet your hair. Then I'll trim some of it, I mean if you want. Then I'll just apply the hair dye." Gwen says without looking at me.

"Uh, okay." I turn on my sink, and when I threw my head into the sink, I slammed it against the faucet.

"Crap!" I grunt, and pulled my head back.

Gwen reached over and shut the faucet off. She put her hands on my shoulders.

"Oh my gosh! A-are you okay? Let me see." She pulled me closer to her.

I dropped my hands so she could see the spot where I hit my head.

"Near my ear." I mumble as her fingers inspected my head.

"Ow, that doesn't look too bad, but that faucet is as hard as a rock." Gwen giggled a little.

"I'm glad you find this so amusing, Gwen." My sarcasm coming out.

"No! I don't but, okay yeah it's kind of funny." She starts laughing.

"Oh ha, ha, ha." I mock her laugh.

I hear my door open, I peer out the bathroom and watch Dj and Trent enter the room. They both looked like they just came back from a work out at the basketball court. Dj was holding a basketball, and Trent was trailing behind.

"Hey Duncan." Dj greets dribbling the basketball across the room, not noticing Gwen.

Trent was more perceptive.

"Hey Gwen, what's up?" Trent asks.

"Hi Trent. Just helping Duncan with his hair." She shrugs.

"With his hair?" Trent raises his eyebrow.

"Yeah, dude." I grunt, and hold my hands over the newly formed bruise on my head.

"Don't touch it!" Gwen moves my hands.

"Have fun with that." I heard Trent mutter as he walked away.

"Is he okay?" Gwen asks me.

"Yeah, why?" I turn the water on, and more carefully I put my head under the running water to wet it. Gwen opened the hair dye as I washed my hair through.

"I don't know, he sounded peeved." I pull my head out of the sink and let the water drip down.

"I'm sure he's fine."

I probably sound harsh, but I don't exactly care about how Trent is doing right now. I'm still focused on my throbbing head. I'm sure whatever is bothering Trent isn't too big for him to handle. He's a pretty chill dude, we hang out together in the dorm a lot of the time. He's good friends with Geoff too.

"Okay, are you ready for your hair?" Gwen asks, dipping the brush into the green dye mixture.

"Go ahead."

Gwen started painting my Mohawk over with the green dye. After a while I got use to the smell, and being completely still. Trent and Dj were in the main room. I could hear Trent tuning his guitar, and Dj watching some action movie on the TV.

"Um Gwen?"

"Yeah, hang on Duncan. I'm just about done." She mumbles.

"Okay, okay. But, is it suppose to be burning?" I seethed.

"What! It's burning? Oh crap!" She cried, and dropped the brush, and turned the cold water knob all the way. Before I could react, Gwen gripped me by the neck, I let out a yelp at her touch, and she shoved my head into the sink, and started washing out the dye.

"Gwen! What are you doing!" I shouted.

"Sorry Duncan! I think I applied this wrong, or something!" I heard her fumbling around with the directions on the back of the box.

She let go of my neck and I ran my fingers through my Mohawk trying to rinse my hair out more. I kept my hair under the water until the water stopped running green from my hair, and went back to opaque.

I shut the water off, and pulled my head out of the sink. The water dripped down, and my hair covered my hair. I pushed my hair back and stared at Gwen who kept inspecting the directions on the box.

"Okay, I think I put a little too much dye in." She squeaked.

"Ya think?"

"Want me to do it over?" Gwen sighs.

"Sure, why not?" I agree tiredly.

I turned around and faced the mirror again, as Gwen started mixing the green coloring again.

"Are you guys okay?" Trent appears in the doorway.

"Yeah, we're fine. Just some slight difficulties." Gwen answers for me.

"Do you guys want any help?" Trent leaned against the doorway.

"I got it from here, thanks." Gwen answers dryly.

I saw Trent frown out of the corner of my eye and leave the doorway. Then it hit me. I already knew Trent liked Gwen, I just forgot he _liked_ her. Here I am standing in the middle of our bathroom and I'm letting Gwen touch me, and fool around with my hair like it's no big deal. And it isn't a big deal, but Trent doesn't know that.

Whatever, it's not big deal. Gwen isn't interested in me anyway. Ten minutes later, and no sign of pain, Gwen was done with my hair.

"Awesome, thanks Gwen! I think it looks better than before." I say looking at myself in the mirror.

"Anytime. Let me know if you need me." Gwen says carelessly.

She starts putting away all of her supplies, I move the chair out of the bathroom and throw my shirt back on.

"I guess that's it. Maybe we should do something after class tomorrow. I think we have English last period."

"That sounds cool. How about we bring some friends along too." I suggest quickly.

I'm not into the whole group thing, but I do feel kind of shitty about what Trent saw, and how he interpreted. Oh crap, now I'm growing soft. By my suggestion, Gwen's face fell a little.

"Or we could do just the two of us. That's fine too." I suggest.

"Yeah, the two of us sound good." Gwen agrees.

Gwen exit's the bathroom, and I flip the light switch and close the door. I open the door leading Gwen out of the room. Gwen steps into the hallway.

"I had fun today. Despite the whole burning scalp incident." Gwen recalls awkwardly.

"Me too. See you tomorrow." I shut the door in her face and jump onto the couch.

Slamming the door in her face was shitty of me, but it's Gwen. She'll bounce back. Dj was in the middle of watching the movie _Iron Man_ while Trent was sitting by his usual spot on the window sill, strumming his guitar looking out the window.

"Nice touch up." Dj compliments.

"Thanks dude." I nod.

"So you and Gwen are good friends, huh?" Trent asks out of the blue.

"I guess you can say that." I respond.

"Is she cool?" He asks.

"What do you mean?" Questions like these can be tricky. He can mean cool as in 'popular' which I know that isn't what he means, but I can play dumb. Or Trent could mean 'cool' as in honest, decent, everything he wants to see in her.

"I dunno. Is she…nice?" Trent struggled for words.

"Yeah, she's nice. She's sarcastic, but she means well." I answer.

Trent rests his guitar against the wall and gets off the window sill. He crosses the room to the mini-fridge and grabs a water bottle.

"I don't know if it's obvious or anything, but I'm kind of…interested in her. I guess you could say." Trent goes.

"Really? I had no clue." Dj snickers at me.

"Oh come on guys! Am I that obvious?" Trent whines.

Dj manages to tear his eyes away from the TV for a minute to answer Trent.

"You have your obvious ways. Like a few weeks ago when we were with the guys, and you began choking when Cody mentioned Gwen? Yeah that was uncalled for." Dj reminds him.

I start laughing, "Yeah, and whenever Gwen is mentioned the tiniest bit into a conversation you can tell you're listening. Your eyes kind of squint when you're really interested in something." I tell him.

"Oh great." Trent groans, taking a long sip of his water.

"Are you trying to drown yourself?" Dj asks concerned.

"Trying, is the key word." Trent sighs, and puts the cap back on his water.

"Yeah, I mean it's cool if you like Gwen. She's pretty cool." I say.

"You don't like her?" Trent's surprised.

"No. Well, she's cute but like I've said before, I have my eye on someone."

"Who?" Dj asks.

"Go back to your movie, Deej."

Dj rolls his eyes, but listens to me and focuses back onto the movie.

"You gonna say who?" Trent wants to know.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready."

"So, are you gonna help me get with Gwen or what?"

"Or what." I smirk.

"Dude." Trent frowns.

"I'll see what I can do, okay?"

"I'll take it." Trent grins.

I return Trent's grin with a lazy smile, and I watch the movie with Dj. To be honest, Gwen probably doesn't like Trent. What do they have in common? She's probably too cynical for him anyway. But, that doesn't mean I can't try to help him anyway. Trent is a good guy, I don't see why not. Besides, it's not like I want to see Courtney, or have anything to do with her right now. So why not help someone else out?

Earlier today Gwen and I were talking about karma and the universe. Gwen told me that the good energy you put out really does make a difference and come back to you. Normally, I don't buy into that load of crap, but when she says it, it makes sense to me. It might sound weird, but when Gwen says stuff to me, it's normally stuff that I've heard a thousand times before, but it clicks when she says it.

Maybe if I tell Gwen about Courtney she'll give me some of her girl advice. If I ask Gwen about Courtney, she can help me. Then I can put the thought of Trent being more than a friend into her mind. It's a fool proof plan, right?

**I love you guys  
*hearts and hugs*  
**

**Much Love, Johnna  
**


	13. New Lips, new face

**Hi my beautiful readers&reviewers! How are you guys? Good? Good! So it's Monday! TDWT is on tonight! Yay! Oh, and I started my first day of summer school(from 8 am to 10am) We were outside waiting to go inside for a half hour -_- but summer school ends at 9:45, because you get like a 15 minute break or something. But, it SUCKS. Seriously guys, please avoid it at ALL costs. it isn't worth it either, you don't learn ANYTHING. Basically your parents(or guardian) pays some random dude to pass you for the class you failed. And of course I'm like, one of the older kids in the class, but no one knows how old I am specifically, but everyone in there is around 14/15, or younger. ONE BOY IS 11. What is an 11 year doing learning algebra? I didn't learn anything close to algebra until 8th grade-ish. But, I'm done ranting(for today). I hope you guys are enjoying my story, thank you all so much for reading it and reviewing it each week. It really does help me improve, it feels like each time I write a new chapter it gets better! So I hope you like this chapter, but to be honest, you might be kind of upset. Don't worry, everything will work out the way you want it to. Well, i mean i hope so. :P Enjoy the new chapter & the new episode of TDWT tonight! Bye!**

_Monday afternoon_

My day hasn't been at all interesting. It's extremely hot out, and the only class rooms with air-conditioning are the computer labs, and the chem labs. So the only slightly enjoyable class was Chemistry, because I wasn't panting like a Labrador from heat. But, Courtney was shooting daggers at me every second she got. She didn't even speak to me, she kept glaring at me. Instead of taking my usual spot next to her, I sat at the lab table behind her. Next to some nerd named Noah. He's like, the male Courtney. A know-it-all, and a fun-sucker. Fun-sucker; _someone who sucks the fun out of everything._

In Chemistry today we were working on memorizing the periodic table of whatever. We have to copy the table in our notebook. That freak Noah already had the entire table memorized, and he wouldn't even let me copy him! Even Courtney would have let me glance at her paper. She would have just denied it afterward. It's how she operates But, no. Noah wrote down the entire freaking table within one minute, and then pulled out some large book. It had to be bigger than the Dictionary. So I had to wait a half hour until Dr. Sumner shared the answers with the class. But, usually when teachers tell you the answers, I like to snooze off. This whole thing with Noah threw off my sleep-in-class ratio. Next time I'll take the daggers up close to Courtney, and snag her answers.

In English today I got my English paper back. I got a B plus. I surprised myself, and Ms. Molina. I guess she thought I was one of those slacker kids, which I am but she isn't suppose to judge me. She's the teacher, and she's one of those really cool teachers too. She treats us like people and not like students, or delinquents, in my made her permanent seat right next to me, in the back of the room. I saw she got an A plus on her paper. Gwen says she does a lot of writing, and does a lot of poetry. I think poetry is stupid and sappy. Gwen told me she started writing in middle school when she started getting bullied and pushed around. When someone tells you something personal like that you can't exactly tell them you think it's stupid to their face.

When the bell rang Gwen waited for me to get my stuff together. She wanted to go behind the English building, and just hang out. I've been behind the English building before. Lots of trees, and grass. It's really quiet too, it use to be a play ground, there's a spot where there is a lot of sand.

"You ready?" She asks when the class room cleared. Trent knew that Gwen and I were hanging out today, and he was cool with it. Trent was down for my plan to try and hint to Gwen that a guy likes her, but in a non-obvious way. Trent doesn't want me to let her know it's him yet. I don't know what he's waiting for, Trent's a cool guy. I've seen him with girls, he's pretty smooth. I guess he's like every other sucker when it comes to a girl that he likes.

It's good to know that I'm not like that. I'm _not_ like that, right?

I nod my head and we walk out of the English classroom and walk together to the back. People passed us by and looked at us together. I don't know what everyone's problem is, it's not like we're together, or holding hands. Apparently, Gwen didn't notice. She started talking with me like she normally would. Normally being if everyone wasn't staring at us.

"So far…this place sucks." Gwen says.

"Sucks? I thought you were liking it here."

"I am. But, there's also that excess girl drama, and I know that wasn't on the brochure." Gwen laughs.

We reach the back of the English building, and we're finally alone. Gwen steps on the bench of a picnic table, and sits on the top of it. I sit on the edge of the wooden bench and look up at her.

"Girl drama? Is it that hot drama where there's a chance I'll catch you and some other girl in a cat fight? Or that frilly boring kind?"

"Mmm, it's neither. It's more like girl-boy drama." She replies.

"Who's the girl?" I point to Gwen.

Gwen nods her head, and points to herself as well.

"Boy?"

Gwen doesn't answer me.

"Oh man! Do I know him?" I start laughing.

She doesn't answer me again.

"Okay, that's a yes! Who's the guy? Gwen you gotta tell me!" I calm down my laughing.

"Not gonna happen." Gwen shakes her head.

"Then why did you bring it up! You can't just start to tell me something, and not tell me the rest!"

"Shut up, never mind! It's stupid. Change the subject! Your hair is looking good today!"

"Yeah I know. Who's the guy?"

"Duncan!" She groans.

"Okay, give me a hint!"

"Fine. One hint." Gwen says sternly.

"What's his name?"

"Duncan! That doesn't count!" Gwen starts laughing again.

I pull off my black blazer, and place it on the table top next to Gwen. Gwen leans back on the table, and uses her hands to support her weight She looks up to the sky and sighs.

"It would be so much easier if you knew." She mumbled.

"Knew what? Who the guy was? Look, if you don't want to tell me it's fine. But, I'll find out."

"Is that a threat?" She raises her eyebrow.

"Speaking of guys, and well you. I know a certain someone who's interested in you." _Smooth._

"You do?" Her raspy voice questions.

"I do."

"Who!" She demands.

I can't hide my smirk. Chicks are so predictable. I already told Trent there was no way I was telling Gwen that he was the one who liked her. Besides, if Gwen wasn't telling me who she liked, there is no chance I would even consider telling her.

"Duncan! I swear you better tell me who, or I…I'll well I don't know! But, you better tell me!"

"Not a chance." I smirked again.

"I hate when you smirk."

"Get use to it, sister." I chuckle.

"Hint?"

"Okay let's see." I lean my elbow on the table to think for a minute.

Gwen sits up straight now and waits for me.

"Okay, he's a pretty chill dude, kind of shy, but not really. Dark hair, green eyes. That's all I'm saying. Oh, and he's in our English class." I tell her.

Gwen stares at me for a minute. Hell, I was not expecting this either. She leaned in closer, and with her hands she cupped my face and pulled me in for a kiss. It wasn't anything like the kiss I had with Courtney. The kiss with Courtney was hot. It was good, I felt a connection with her. But, this one with Gwen wasn't half bad. But, it wasn't half good either. Gwen was a good kisser, but there was something in that kiss that was lacking. Gwen ended the kiss and I just stared at her, blinking.

"What was that for?" I ask shocked.

"What do you mean what was that for?" Gwen got down from the picnic table, with her arms crossed.

"I mean why did you just kiss me?"

"You're kidding me right?" She spit out.

"Uh…" I drawled.

"You just admitted that you _like me_, right?" She put her hands on her hips.

"What! You thought I just described me?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"You think I'm _shy_? My eyes aren't green! What, whoa oh my God, Gwen!" I can't even think about what I'm saying now. I'm too busy concentrating on that kiss, and the fact that Gwen thought _I _was the guy I was just describing! I'm not shy, and my eyes aren't green! They're turquoise…

"I can't believe I'm such an idiot!" Gwen muttered, she grabbed her bag and started walking away as fast as she could.

"Gwen! Wait, where are you going?" I grabbed my blazer and started following her.

"Leave me alone, Duncan." Gwen faced me.

She studied my face for a second, and turned around and walked away again. This was not how I planned on things going. I had no idea Gwen actually liked me. If I knew that then I wouldn't have acted so relaxed near her, and I would have made it clear I wasn't interested in her. I thought Gwen was one of those girls I didn't have to act like that around.

"Shit." I mumbled into the palm of my hand.

I threw my blazer over my shoulder. I guess I might as well go back to my room now, and not tell Trent what just happened. It's part of the dude code. Bros before Hoes. If Trent knew Gwen kissed me he'd be pissed. I mean sure, he'd get that it wasn't my fault, but still. I would mess up his face if he made a move on Courtney. Not that it would matter, since I can't stand Courtney, and she can't 'tolerate' me or any of my 'shenanigans.' Princess is so anal it makes me not even want to be around her. But, I know she loves it. She likes me because I'm not like anyone else. Even if she doesn't admit it.

Walking with my head down, I was approaching the two main buildings on the east side of campus. The two buildings the guys and I tee-peed. Mine, and Courtney's. I peer up and take a look at my building as I crossed the grass to approach it. I stopped short, and watched a girl walk pass me. She stood straight, and walked forward, like she knew exactly what she wanted, and where she was going.

But she didn't know where she was going.

"Excuse me, hi. Can you please tell me where Brennon R. Hall is?" Her brown eyes stared at me expectantly. She looked familiar, but I couldn't tell where I had seen her before.

"It's right there." I pointed to the dorm right next to mine.

"Thank you! Nice to meet you by the way, my name is Sierra." She put her hand out. I shook her hand. Firm grasp.

"Are you starting here late?" I ask.

"Well, I hope so! I'm actually here visiting my little sister. But, I might be attending here as well. We'll see how it goes with my parents." She tells me.

"Hopefully, it doesn't go well. I don't know about you, but this place sucks." I tell her.

Sierra giggles. "It can't be so bad, my sister seems to enjoy it. She sent me a post card a little while ago. Then again she must love being on her own."

"Well, who doesn't love their freedom?"

"You're right, you're right." She nods her head. "I guess what I meant was, she loves her freedom away from _me_."

"From you? Nah, you're not so bad. You're pretty hot too, I'll give you that." Sierra starts giggling again, and she blushed a little bit.

"So, who's this sister you mentioned earlier? I mean if she's half as cool as you she's gotta to be worth hanging out with." I smirk.

"My sister? Oh, you might know her. But, her and I are nothing alike. Her name is-

"Sierra!" I turn to where I heard the familiar voice, and face Courtney.

Please. Don't tell me. The two girls ran to each other, and did one of those fake hug things. You know the hug girls do when they see each other on the first day of school. One of those hugs they do as if they haven't seen each other in five years.

"What are you doing here? I thought you mom, and dad weren't coming until this weekend." Courtney asks not sounding as excited as the hug looked.

Now that I think about it, I wish I took part in that hug.

"Well, daddy got a better deal on a flight for earlier on in the week, so he sent me by myself to check everything out!" I over hear Sierra say.

"Oh, so where are you staying?" Courtney now asks.

"Mommy and Daddy checked in with the dean, and they said it's fine for me to room with you just for a little while! Guess what I have more great news!" Sierra goes.

"What's the news?" Courtney asks deflated.

"I might be going here this year!" She squeals.

"What?" Courtney almost shrieked.

Sierra ignored the shriek and continued, "Yep! If I like it here, mom and dad are going to let me live here for the year!"

"Oh, that's great." Courtney grimaced, again Sierra hadn't noticed.

"I know! So why don't you be a big help, and take my bags up to your room! I'll meet you there in a minute, I'm just talking to someone new." Sierra hands Courtney her purse, and then turns back to me. Sierra places a smile on her face.

"A new _friend_?" Courtney sputters.

"That's right." Sierra nods. "This is-I'm sorry I never caught your name."

"I know who he is, Sierra." Courtney says.

"Oh. Okay then." Clearly she's confused.

"Yeah, Courtney and I go way back. To like, the train ride here." I say.

"Fascinating. Well, I guess I'll see you around." Sierra smiles to me, and keeps her back to her sister.

"See you around. By the way, I'm Duncan." I take Sierra's hand, and kiss the top of it. I hear Sierra giggle, and watch the steam fly out of Courtney's ears.

Sierra and Courtney walk back to their dorm together, and I walk to mine. This Sierra thing could be really good or really bad. She's hot, I'll give her that but to be honest I'm still interested in Courtney, but I'll deny it at any given chance because I don't deal with rejection.

And then there's my mess with Gwen. Trent will be waiting for me to tell him what happened as soon as I enter the room. What I've learned from situations like these is to just not panic, and to play it cool. I reach my hand for the doorknob, and let myself into my room.

"Duncan!" Trent calls from his bed.

"Sup, dude?" I close the door from behind.

"Just chilling for now. So, uh…how did it go?"

And then I panic.

**How was that? Thanks again for everything! Love you guys so much!**

**xoxoxo :) Johnna  
**


	14. A New Baby

**Hiii again! So it's Monday, and I survived the start of my second week of Summer School! I just watched the new TDWT, it was really funny too! I won't give anything away for you guys who missed it! Anyway, I hope you guys like this update! I don't know why, but I kind of like this chapter! It's pretty lengthy too! I'll have the next one up soon for you guys! Thanks again for everything you guys do for me, the reviews, the reading, it all rocks my world! ILY ALL! 3**

**Disclaimer; I do not own the TD series, or characters :(  
**

_Monday night_

"Uh dude?" I snap back to Trent, who was staring at me expectantly.

"Huh, oh sorry. What?" I should have thought of what I wanted to say before coming back here.

"How did it go with Gwen? Does she know?" Trent got faraway eyes.

"Kind of…she knows a guy likes her."

"Then what did she do?" Trent sits down on the arm of our couch. I hang my blazer in the closer, and think of what to say next.

"Where's Dj?" I ask.

"He went to try out for the football team," Trent answers. "What did Gwen do?" he asks again.

"Shekissedme." I mumble quickly.

Trent chuckles, "What?"

"She kissed me." I mumble softer.

"Dude, quit mumbling. What happened? I can handle it." Trent's expression changed, and he was looking at me intently.

"Look if I knew she was going to do this I wouldn't have said anything. But, chicks these days are so difficult," I go on.

Trent still stares at me.

"Gwen kissed me."

"She _what_?" Trent blinked a few times.

"Just hear me out-

"-dude! How could you? I thought we were clear on the plan! You slightly hint to Gwen that a guy likes her! Then you hint that it's me! Where in there does it tell you to kiss her!" Trent jumps up from the arm chair.

"I didn't kiss her! She kissed me!"

"Did you kiss her back?"

"Well…" "This blows. I need some air." Trent stormed out of the room, and slammed the door behind him.

That went better than expected.

To clear my head I take a shower. I get most of my thinking done during showers or before I go to sleep at night. I think that goes for everyone though. Who in particular I keep thinking about ever since Trent left was Sierra, Courtney's older a slightly hotter sister.

Clearly Sierra and Courtney aren't very close, which shouldn't be a problem. If I dated one, I could move onto the other one easily. There would be no sister betrayal conflict, and I wouldn't be caught in the middle, right?

I don't know about Courtney anymore. There's definitely something there, whether Princess denies it or not. But, her sister seemed to make a liking to me in the fifteen minute encounter I had with her. But, I think if I get with Sierra it would get boring too fast. With Courtney it feels like there always will be something.

Opposites attract don't they? But, how long should I have to wait for her to come around? I'm open to Courtney at anytime. It might just be easier to get with Sierra. Or maybe I can just get with both of them at once.

Ha-ha, my mind isn't ready to be put through the mental torture of two Alderson girls. Both perfect. Both crazy smart, both gorgeous. I step out of the shower, and pull on my pair of red and black plaid boxers I left out of the door knob. I dry off my back and chest, and throw the towel carelessly on the hamper.

The door opens, and Dj walks in looking exhausted.

"Deej! You look like death man." I comment. "Tell me about it." Dj's breath staggers as he collapses onto his bed.

"How were tryouts?" I go through my drawers looking for my black muscle shirt.

"Tryouts? They sucked. There's no way I'm making the team." Dj says once he catches his breath again.

"What? A brick house like you, they need you. Even if you're just passing out water on the sidelines."

"Thanks man." I can't tell if Dj is being sarcastic or not, he keeps breathing heavily.

Even though Abbott is a boarding school, we still have regular sport teams and activities and competitions with other boarding schools in the area. I read about it in the brochure. We have the football team, a boys lacrosse team, a boys hockey team, a girls swim team, a girls softball team, a boys baseball team, and boys and girls basketball and soccer.

Luckily, we don't miss out on the amazing privileges of a regular high school! Whoo-freaking-hoo. Just another way to let the cocky jocks stay on top of the pyramid. I'm surprised Dj even tried out for football. Sure he looks like he would kick anyone's ass, but the thing is Dj wouldn't hurt a fly.

Dj is a total softy. He calls his mom or his grandma every night after dinner. They talk on the phone for two hours, at least. Then Dj is always talking about this bunny he found the other day on campus, and how he always steals carrots from the kitchen, and he feeds the bunny each day at exactly two in the afternoon, in the same spot.

It's like he has the rabbit trained. Next thing you know he'll be bringing the bunny back here.

"Where's Trent?" Dj sits up.

"Don't know." I fall back onto my bed with my arms under my head.

"Maybe he's at the library." Dj guesses.

"I doubt it. I kind of pissed the dude off earlier." I admit sheepishly.

"How did you do that, he's a pretty chill dude."

"You know Gwen?"

"Goth chick?"

"That's her." I nod.

"What about her?" Dj asks.

"She kissed me. While I was trying to subtly tell her Trent liked her."

"I'm guessing you were a little too subtle."

I groaned, and roll over and shove my face into the pillow.

"I'm gonna go wash off. Sorry about your problem, I'd say your best bet is to make sure Trent knows that whatever happened between you and Gwen wasn't suppose to." I hear Dj say. I shove my face deeper into the pillow and squeeze my eyes shut hoping this would all just go away.

But nothing is ever that easy.

**_Tuesday Morning_**

I skipped breakfast and rush to my first period Western Civ. Class. Our paper is due today, and I actually did this one. It's three pages long mainly of facts and bullshit. I kept my personal opinion as far away from the paper as possible. I don't think my teacher would be too impressed with what I actually thought of Napoleon.

At the sound of the bell I stumbled through the door. My teacher glared at me briefly, and he went back to checking the attendance. I took my usual seat next to Geoff who was, as usual, hassling that dork Harold who sits in front of him.

"Bro! What's good? Haven't seen you around lately." He greets me.

"Guess I've been busy." I shrug.

"I hear that! I've been trying to coordinate the most killer party," Geoff grins. "But keep it on the DL I have nothing set in stone yet." he whispers.

Finally, something to take my mind off of things. I was wondering when Geoff was going to throw one of his notorious killer parties.

"Where is it gonna be?" I ask curiously. There's no way it could be in a dorm, or a room. They're too small, or too out in the open.

"Check it," Geoff leans closer and lowers his voice to a whisper again. "Bridgette showed me this awesome place, it's in the basement of the library!"

"Explain."

"In the library, in back near the filing cabinets, there's an elevator-

"-Oh yeah, I always thought that was broken." I interrupt.

"Nope. Anyway, Bridgette works in the library part time, she actually gets _paid_ for it too! So the other day we had some alone time, and we went down to the basement, and well you know…"

"Yeah Geoff." I paused. "So Bridgette thinks we could pull off a party down there?" "Oh yeah, she has no idea."

"What?"

"I'm not telling Bridge! She wouldn't want to go, partying isn't her thing."

"So you would throw a party without inviting your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Geoff shakes his head.

"But you just told me you guys did it in the library basement!"

"I did not say that!" Geoff begins to laugh. "But, I'm not denying it either."

"You're full of it."

"So?" Geoff and I crack up again.

We're brought back to class when we realize everyone is staring at us, including the teacher. I look over at Courtney, who just has a confused expression on her face. Then I look at Gwen who was looking passed me and at Geoff. Nice, she won't even look at me. It's not like I did anything to purposely hurt her. It's just the way things go. People get hurt, they move on and grow stronger. Unless that's just me.

"If you two gentlemen are finished, I would like all of you to pass your papers forward and I will collect them now." A chorus of groans erupted throughout the room, followed by the shuffling of kids opening their backpacks and folders to get their papers out. Of course, Harold already had his paper on his desk ready for it to be graded.

"Yo, Count Dork-u-la who did you do your paper on?" I ask jabbing my paper into Harold's back.

"Gosh! You didn't have to jab that into my back." Harold said in his nasally voice. He snatched mine and Geoff's papers and passed them forward.

"And for your information I did mine on Jokichi Takamine, the famous Japanese chemist. In fact, he-

"Yeah don't care." I interrupt.

Geoff laughs and turns to me again. "So I heard the best piece of gossip, ever." Geoff says using a valley-girl impression.

"That's scary." I reply.

"Not the point. What's up with you hooking up with Goth girl over there, and not even telling me?" Geoff always needs to be first to hear everything. The fact that he even knows without me telling him is scaring me.

"How do you know about that?"

"Oh, um," Geoff drawls.

"Geoff." I growl.

"Okay, Trent told me. But, he was kind of peeved when he told me. I ran into him last night in the student union. He was just venting.

I don't respond. I can't exactly be mad for Trent talking shit about me. I did let Gwen kiss me, even if I didn't mean it.

"Okay, today we will be watching a movie. It should be an easy class, and I'll get these papers back to you guys on Monday." Mr. Daniels puts down his seating chart and walks to the front of the room pulling down a large overhead. He set up his projector on one of the desks, and starts setting up the movie.

"So how was it?" Geoff whispers.

"How was what? The kiss, or daggers Trent sends me every time I look at him?"

"Kiss, bro fill me in." "It was…good. Fast. Different." I answer indifferently.

Geoff nods his head.

"Not like kissing Courtney." I add.

"What!" Geoff practically shouts. "My bro, my man!" Geoff hoots.

Soon most of the class is staring at us. Not including Gwen, who wouldn't take her eyes off her notebook. Courtney turned around and her eyes were wide as if she heard our entire conversation.

I'm so dead if she heard me. Not that it matters, because I can kiss whomever I want. Obviously, Courtney and I aren't…anything. Courtney whipped back around and crossed her arms over her chest.

Mr. Daniels shut the lights off and began to play whatever movie he had put in. She heard the conversation. I bet she interpreted the entire thing the wrong way too. Why is it that chicks cause so much more drama than necessary?

I don't know what movie this is, but it's as interesting as watching paint dry. A few minutes into the movie a small folded piece of paper flew onto my desk. I glanced around me to see who passed me the note. Everyone seemed to be watching the movie.

I unfolded the paper in my lap trying to make sure the paper doesn't make that crinkling noise.

**Duncan, I swear if I find out that you've been kissing other girls a day after you kissed me you'll wish you were never born. That's a promise too.**

**- Courtney**

I couldn't wipe the huge grin off my face. I glanced up, Mr. Daniels appeared to be writing something on his desk. I pulled a pen out of my pocket and began writing my response.

**Why should you care, darling? I thought I wasn't good enough for you.**

**- Your prince charming**

**'Your prince charming'? Oh, please. Anyway, I never said you weren't good enough for me! I just said the relationship would have been pointless because let's face it, we wouldn't have lasted anyway.**

**-Courtney**

**Ouch**

**- The coolest beast ever**

**Sorry, the truth hurts. Why did you kiss Gwen? I thought you liked me. Or did you forget? I knew you had a small brain but I didn't think it was minuscule to the point where you forget who you like. P.S. you're not the coolest beast ever.**

**- Courtney**

**Hang on, what does miniscule mean? And I didn't kiss Gwen. It didn't happen like that, she kissed me. Besides, why do you even care?**

**- Dunc.**

**Minuscule: adj; small, limited or below average. And I don't care! I was just wondering…so how did it happen?**

**- Court**

**It's a long story. Well, no it's not. I just don't feel like explaining it through a note. Maybe I'll tell you some other time. Then again my brain is so minuscule that I probably won't remember. Ooh, look a butterfly.**

**I hate you.**

**You want me.**

**-Xoxox**

I didn't get a response after the last note I sent. Courtney got up with an aggravated expression on her face as she ripped the note to shreds into the recycling bin. I watched her go back to her seat, this time she looked at me, but I couldn't sense what she was thinking.

The bell rang and everyone began packing up their things and clearing the room.

"Catch you later, bro?" Geoff says.

"Definitely."

I head out the door and exit the Social Studies building and make my way to my psychology class. This building is so far out and out of the way from the other buildings. It grinds on my nerves, I don't have anyone to talk to in this class. But, it is pretty interesting. We basically learn about the human mind and what makes people tick. We're going more in depth with everything later into the year.

I pulled the door open into my class room and take the seat all the way to the right side of the room, toward the back near the open window. I slide into my desk, and roll up the cuffs of my blazer. These things suck. They're stuffy and uncomfortable. Like old people.

My teacher Ms. Usenia is setting up our project for the day. This class is so easy because we don't get any real work or real assignments. It's mainly conversation on what we think and our observant on others around us.

Except yesterday Ms. Usenia told us that we were going to have our first major grade project assigned to us sometime this week. The way Ms. Usenia is working around the classroom, it looks like we're going to hear about it today.

Someone takes the seat in front of me. I look up and see a brown ponytail waving in front of my face. Then a face turns around to match.

"Hi there." Sierra smiles to me.

"Hi again. What are you doing here? I thought you didn't actually go here."

"I don't. But, my daddy is close with the Dean, and he is allowing me to sit in and watch some of the classes. Plus Ms. Usenia doesn't mind me observing." Sierra responds.

"Well, you chose the right class to sit in on. It's an easy class, pretty interesting and plus I'm here. That's always a bonus." I wink.

Sierra giggles. "You're pretty funny."

"Thanks." I grin.

The bell rings and Ms. Usenia begins her lesson once everyone settles down.

"Okay, seeing that we're all here let's get this class going! You all remember the huge project I mentioned yesterday, correct?" Some kids nodded their heads or called out their answers.

"Well today is your lucky day! Today you all become parents!" Ms. Usenia smiled.

"Ohemgee! Katie! Did you hear that? We can finally become in-laws!" One of the girls in front of the room squealed.

Katie and Sadie. Two girls who look like complete opposites but share a brain. I can never remember which girl is which. All they do is squeal, talk, laugh, or blubber with tears when they aren't partnered for a group activity.

"Oh my Gosh! Sadie, yes! We're like, sisters!" Katie also squealed.

"Alright girls, I know you're both excited but you're all getting ahead of yourselves. For this assignment I want you all to take on the role of a married couple, carrying around the classic flour sack." Ms. Usenia bent down under her desk and pulled out a medium sack of cloud, wearing a diaper.

"I want you and your partner to try to put yourselves in the shoes of your partners. This includes feeding your baby, playing with your baby, changing the diaper, coming to its every need. Take your flour sack to every class. Never let this baby leave your side. Make this baby as real as possible."

I stared at the flour sack Ms. Usenia began cradling.

"If you go to the bathroom, hire a baby sitter, or I will make sure someone will kidnap the flour sack. I want this flour sack baby back by next Friday. Once you hand the baby back, I would also like both parents to write me a three to five paged paper on parenting, the early stages of a newborn baby, and your new experience as a temporary parent. That will be due the following Monday."

Ms. Usenia placed the flour sack back down on her desk. She went to the closet in the front of the room next to the door, and dragged out a large green reusable shopping bag.

"Pick your partners! When you're finished come up here and get your baby!" Ms. Usenia dragged the green bag filled with potential babies to her feet and waited for everyone to get going.

Everyone scattered around the room finding their future wife or husband. Kids soon went up to take their flour sack. Within five minutes it looked like everyone was already partnered up. Ms. Usenia went around the room writing down each pair.

"Duncan, it doesn't look like you're working with anyone, are you?" Ms. Usenia asks.

"Nope, it looks like I'm going to be a single pop on this one. No big." I shrug.

"No, this is a partner project…" Ms. Usenia's voice trails off. "Sierra! Would you mind working with Duncan on this project? I know you're only sitting in, but just so he has the two parent experience he needs for writing his paper."

"I'd love to help out." Sierra smiles and gets up the take a flour sack out of the green bag.

Sierra happily falls back into her seat, and turns her desk around so we're facing each other.

"I think the baby needs a name." She says.

"A name?" I repeat in disbelief.

"Yes."

"It's a flour sack." I deadpan.

"I know." She smiles a little.

"So what's the point?"

"It'll be fun, come on! Let's name her Kendall."

"Her? What makes you think it's a she? I want my first born to be a boy, so he can follow my footsteps."

"Kendall can be a boys name too." She points out.

"True, but he needs a manly man name like, Maximum."

"Can I call him Maxie?"

"Only when I'm not around."

"Deal." Sierra smiles again.

I wonder what Courtney would think if she knew her sister and I were working on a parenting project together. I would love to see her reaction. The amusement I get from ticking her off is sick. I guess that's the kind of guy I am.

"So when the bell rings my next class is my gym period, then my free period. Wanna take this flour sack back to your dorm around say, two o'clock?"

"Sounds good." Sierra obliges. "Except," she starts off.

"My sister will be there, you don't mind some company do you?"

"Not at all. Courtney and I are good friends we'll keep each other sane for you and the baby." I joke.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Courtney sneered when she saw me enter her room with the flour sack. "And what's with the flour, baking cookies are we?"

"Stick a sock in it, babe." Sierra closes the door behind me.

"Duncan and I are working together on his psychology assignment." Sierra goes.

"You're already taking a psychology class, Sierra? But, you're not even enrolled here!" Courtney squawked.

"Calm down, Court. I was only sitting in, and there weren't enough students so Ms. Usenia asked me to partner with Duncan." Sierra explained calmly. Talk about opposites. Sierra is calm, nice, and kind of fun. Whereas Courtney is uptight, likes to jump to conclusions, and always has a stick up her ass.

"So what is this project, anyway?" Courtney wants to know.

"We have to be married." I say with my signature smirk.

Before Courtney's eyes fell out of her head, Sierra stepped in.

"We have to be parents to this flour sack, and then Duncan has to write a paper on the experience."

"Whatever." Courtney huffs, and sits back on the couch. She pulls a large textbook and a notebook onto her lap and starts working on what looks like Algebra II homework.

"Just be out of here by five, Duncan. One of my roommates is coming back from her several try-outs and she's a psycho." Courtney warns me.

"Nothing I haven't seen before." I shrug.

"Thought I'd warn you." She says in a careless tone.

Funny, her tone is careless, but I would say she cares-a whole lot.

"Courtney you don't mind us working on this while you're doing your homework, do you?" Sierra asks.

"Actually I do-

"You don't? Great!" I plop onto the couch next to Courtney, with the flour sack baby in my arm.

Sierra giggles. "I think we should dress this baby." She picks up the sack and cradles it.

"Uh, I think he's good, Sierra." "Duncan, you have to pretend this is a real baby! Babies need clothes. I think I can make a shirt out of one of my old t-shirts. Hang on." Sierra walked over to one of the dressers and pulled out a navy blue pajama top. She walked over to the coffee table, where Courtney had her book bag. Sierra opened the bag and pulled out a small pair of scissors.

"Hey! You can't just go through my stuff, you know." Courtney wrinkles her nose.

"Calm down, little sis." Sierra sits on the floor and begins cutting the tank top.

"What are you doing carrying scissors, anyway? Good princesses don't run with scissors." I say to Courtney.

"Shut up, Duncan. And for your information I needed a pair of scissors for my art class!"

I chuckle at Courtney's annoyance. "Ta-da! A shirt for baby Maxie." Sierra held the 'baby' up for me to see.

"I told you no girlie nicknames when I'm around."

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." Sierra gets off the floor and sits next to me on the couch. She hands me the flour, and I toss it in my hands for a second.

"What-what's this?" Courtney puts her book on the coffee table, and grabs the 'baby' out of my hands.

"Sierra! This is _my_ shirt! You can't just cut up my shirt to clothe a _flour sack!_" Courtney tells us. Well, yells actually.

"Shh, he has ears!" I take the flour sack out of her hands.

"Shut up before I make you regret stepping foot into my room!"

"You're hot when you're mad."

Courtney groaned angrily, louder than usual too. Bonus.

"Okay, Duncan I think we should leave Courtney alone now." Sierra says. "And I only used your shirt because we both know you've had it for almost two years, the color is faded and everything. Besides you'll hardly wear it here, you wear a uniform all the time."

"Whatever. If you need me I'll be in the library." Courtney collected her stuff and left the room angrily.

"Well, I guess we're alone." Sierra doesn't move, she stays close.

"Guess so."

"So what should our first official act as parents be?" Sierra asks, taking Max out of my hands.

"Uh, put the baby to bed and let the parents have a little adult time?" I wiggle my eyebrow, and Sierra's cheeks turn red as she begins to giggle.

"I was thinking we could write down a list of things our baby could like and dislike."

"Ew. That requires working."

"That's the key, Duncan."

"I don't have a good work ethic. Can we watch TV instead?"

"You can do that in _your_ room. Come on, let's just get started on something." Sierra puts the flour sack down on the couch and pulls out from under Courtney's pillow. She tears out a sheet of paper, and puts the notebook back. She comes back to the couch, sitting down next to me, and takes the pen from the coffee table.

"Why was that notebook under Courtney's pillow?"

"It's her journal, or something. I don't know."

"How did you know she kept it there?"

"I know my sister like a book. She never changes. She kept a diary under her pillow back home." Sierra pauses. "So what are some things Max can like? How about…the clarinet, and music."

"Classical music? I don't think so. How about melodic metal core, and the drums."

"I'll meet you half way. Rock music, and the guitar."

"Deal."

Sierra writes this down.

"Does Princess always write in her journal thing?"

"Princess?" Sierra looks at me confused.

"Oh, sorry. Princess is just a little nick name I gave her for being so spoiled and stubborn one day. No big." I shrug.

"Oh, ha-ha. That's pretty funny, actually. Very Courtney. Every once in a while she writes, I suppose. I wouldn't know." Sierra puts her pen down. "Why?"

"Just curious to read what she's thinking, I guess."

"Or scary."

This time _I_ have to laugh.

"I think our baby should like animals, and is very social." Sierra says.

"Sure. I think he should have a Mohawk."

"I think he should have some hair first."

"Touché."Sierra writes down some more information on the loose leaf sheet of paper.

"I'll be right back, I think I hear my cell phone ringing. I left it in the bathroom when I was getting ready this morning." Sierra got up and as soon as the bathroom door shut, I sported for Courtney's bed.

I grabbed the journal from under her pillow and my face lit up like it was Christmas morning. I seriously need to do some damage tonight. I take the small sized purple journal. It's too big to fit in any of my pockets, so I put it in the next best spot - my pants.

I shove the journal down the back of my pants, wedged between my boxers and jeans I changed into after class. I walk back to the couch, trying to get the journal to not fall down.

I sit back on the couch and wait for Sierra to come back out. I got to get out of here, and fast. But, I can't just leave she'll know something is up. I take the sheet Sierra was listing about the 'baby' and fold it then slip it into my pocket. I pick up the flour sack and go by door to leave. I listen to Sierra talk to whom it seems like one of her parents on the phone.

Maybe if I just tell her quickly through the door that there is an emergency in my room…I can get away. I knock on the bathroom door.

"Hang on mom," Sierra says in the phone. "Yeah?"

"So uh, listen. I gotta go. Geoff called, and he needs my help on some project. It's a major one too, and I sort of told him I'd help him. I'll meet you tomorrow, okay?"

"That's fine." Sierra says. _Yes!_ "Oh, and Duncan?" I put my hand on the door handle, my way out.

"Yeah?"

"Put the diary back where it belongs."

Yeah, right.

**I hope you guys liked it :D Enjoy! I'll update again soon! Thanks again for all of the amazing feedback!**

**- Johnna :)  
**


	15. Discovery

**Hi lovelies. :D So this update came pretty quickly! But, it is kind of short. This is because I wanted this chapter to be short, and the next one I am thinking of switching to Courtney's P.O.V for the next one! I already started that chapter, so it should be ready soon. Maybe by Monday, when I usually update, maybe sooner. We'll see! Thanks again for all of this awesome feed back! All of this reading & Reviewing is awesome! I wasn't really sure what to do with this chapter. I had one way written, but then I totally changed it last night and this morning. I wanted Courtney's reaction to be different, and I wasn't sure how much I wanted Duncan to know! Some of the old stuff is in there still though :) I get stuck in writers block a lot, but when I see all of the awesome feedback, it makes me want to write more, and the writers block goes away! I always try to do my best for you guys!**

**I want to dedicate this chapter to an awesome reviewer, CamillaD. She reviews me ALL THE TIME, even for some previous stories, and I LOVE that she does that for me! I always reply to my reviews, but since Camilla is anonymous, I can't reply to you. But, Camilla I want to thank you for all of the support because you're seriously so sweet! I hope you like this chapter!**

**P.S. Does anyone on here have "Bieber Fever" ? Just wondering, I love that kid! :P Enjoy guys!**

**Disclaimed: I do not own the Total Drama series, or any of the characters!  
**

_Tuesday night_

I escape Courtney and Sierra's room with the flour sack and Courtney's diary. I pull the diary out of the back of my pants and sprint toward the main entrance out of the building. If I can just make it to my room without anyone stopping me then I can do this. There's no way Sierra is going to come after me, and Courtney is miles away from my dorm in the library. If Sierra was going to come after me, she would have already. No one will stop me. But, as usual. I spoke too soon.

"Duncan!" I immediately stop in my tracks, faced with the nice girl, Bridgette. _What the hell could she want from me?_

"Malibu! I'm kind of in a rush, I'll catch you later." I try to walk around her, but she cuts me off.

"Sorry, but I need to find Geoff. Do you have any idea where he would be?"

"His room?"

"I checked."

He's probably in the library preparing for his little party. But, Bridgette doesn't know about that, and if she goes to the library she'll probably run into Princess, and we don't want that. Then they'll start talking about me, and we don't need Courtney thinking about me or the fact that I have her diary right now.

"You should try the gym, or the locker room. I think he mentioned something about trying out for soccer." _Smooth. _But, if she knows Geoff as well as I do, which she doesn't, then she knows Geoff wouldn't do any sport unless it was surfing, rugby, or something you can play on a beach.

"Great thanks." She smiles gratefully.

"Yeah, bye." I step around her and start walking toward my building.

"Duncan?"

"Yeah?" I stop walking by don't turn around.

"Why are you carrying around a purple diary?" Shit. Shit. Shit. _She notices the friggen journal but not the ten inch flour sack wearing a shirt?_

"Uh, it's Dj's. Yeah, it's actually a scrapbook his mom sent him and he left it in one of his classrooms. So I offered to get it for him." I turn around this time.

"Aw, that's sweet of his mom." She smiles.

"I better be getting this to him, see you later Barbie." I walk quickly into my building, and once I reach the elevator I shut the door so no one else can get in with me. The bell dings to my floor and I rush to my room. I tug on the door, and let myself in. Thankfully it was unlocked, I forgot my key on my desk.

The room is empty, and I sigh in relief. I shut the door behind me, and lock it, just to be safe. I put the flour sack on my dresser, and take the diary to my bed. I lay back on my bed and grin at the cover. A purple hard cover diary, no lock, the edges of the pages were white. The binding of the diary was black. _Edgy. For a girl._

I relax my shoulders, and with excitement I open the book to its first page. The first date was dated back to a few months ago.

**June sixth, 2010**

**I finally completed my last year at Danvor Public School. Sophomore year was a hideous year, and I can not wait to attend Abbott academy. I'm pretty sure mommy and daddy are going to let me go there next year. Since Sierra should be finishing up her final year at Lincoln Private School. She loves it there, and finally she'll be out of my hair when I live on campus. That's the best thing about boarding school. Also, Abbott academy is one of the most prestigious schoolings in North America. Unfortunately, it isn't in Canada, it's in New Jersey it's pretty far from home. But, I can manage. I always do.**

Snooze fest. I skip a bunch of pages, catching the date up to more recently. More like early September, when she met me. Maybe I'm in here. I must be. She had to write about that kiss, what was she really thinking…bingo.

**October third, 2010**

**"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Tell me about it. Today started out being a great day, and then everything spiraled down. Duncan and I hung out for a little while. He asked me to spend some time with him. I wasn't going to at first, but for some reason I wanted to take a chance on him. He showed me this secret spot that's kind of far from campus, but still on campus. It's beautiful, it has a miniature waterfall, gorgeous trees and flowers. It was magnificent, a breath-taking sight. (And Duncan didn't look so bad either) **-I had to smirk at that- **I was really flattered that Duncan wanted to share such a beautiful place with me. It was a different side of him, a sensitive side of him. I really liked it too. If he could be sensitive, then I could loosen up. I jumped into the water with Duncan, fully clothed and believe me it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I'm glad I did it. We were having fun. Something…I haven't had in a while. And then he ruined it. He kissed me. He KISSED ME.**

**I can't believe he did that. I wasn't expecting it at all! Well, maybe I was expecting it…a little. Anticipating it, even. I even liked it, for a second or two. But, the kiss lasted seven seconds, I counted.**

**I knew there was something between Duncan and me but I always made sure that whatever it was would stay buried beneath our mutual light-hearted hatred for each other.**

**I mean he creases me, and I aggravate him. I get on his nerves, he gets under my skin. Shouldn't it stay that way? We were fine that way. Safe.**

**I pushed him away. I had to. We aren't compatible. We're total opposites, we would have never worked out. I don't want to put my heart through that sort of pain. Like being attached to someone I can never have, because they don't feel the same. I made it clear he knew that too.**

**It's all too much. Even though I didn't want to, I pushed him away. I even slapped him. But, that was due to initial shock from that kiss. I Got out of the water, and then we started fighting. SO typical of him. Then it's like he switched the situation onto me, and I started feeling bad. Can you believe that? God, this sucks. What's even worse is it's my fault. And I don't know how to make it better.**

I close her diary for a minute. I didn't know she felt that way. I didn't think she was so scared of…me. It's not like it was a big deal. Hey wait, she liked the kiss? And she counted how long it was. Sweet. But, she really should have put more in there, I need to know what I can work on. I want to improve my technique. Usually girls give me feedback. But, that's not the point right now.

The point is Courtney totally wants me, but she is way too scared. Even if she didn't even write about wanting me, she does. I open the diary again and search for a more recent entry. Here we go, one from today before I came over.

**October 11, 2010**

**I am so frustrated right now! Between Sierra's sudden appearance, and Duncan being well, Duncan I don't know which of the two I want to kill first! I hate that she's here. Why would she want to spend her senior year at some random boarding school? Doesn't she have friends? She always shows me up at everything! She's always better than me, and she can't go off to college without proving herself one last time.**

**So far she has been tolerable. Friendly, bright, and helpful as always. I know I'm being bitter, but I can't help it. If the roles were switched she would feel the same way.**

**And as for Duncan? What a pig. I overheard a conversation he and Geoff were having in western civ. Today. Apparently Geoff is throwing a party - note to self tell Bridgette asap-and Duncan kissed another girl. A week after he kissed me, and he can't handle my rejection, so he starts kissing someone else? I am so outraged! And it was Gwen, some random goth girl in the western civ. Class with us. Like, really Duncan? You're so immature. He probably did it to get me jealous, like I care what he does! …I don't.**

**And he even told Geoff that we kissed! I had him make sure that he wouldn't tell anyone, that no one would find out. You think you can trust a person. Then again, this is Duncan we're talking about.**

**It's really bugging me that he kissed someone else already, he already found someone new. I guess it shows that I was right, this wouldn't have worked out if we were to be together. He can't even try to win me over. He just moved on. I love being right. But, this time I would have loved to be wrong. This sucks.. I like being around him. Well, _liked_. I swear that kiss was more than a kiss. But, I should probably stop chasing him, and let him be. Since this is getting too weird, even for me.**

I smile and close the diary. Mission completed. Princess totally digs me, and wants me. But, there's one problem stopping me. I have her diary in my hands, and she can't know that it's here. I blankly look at the closed journal and slide it under my pillow. If I feel like doing some reading later, I know what to do.

But, something is stopping me from reading it. It's almost like if I open her journal I'm opening her head and seeing everything she says, which for Princess can be pretty scary, no doubt.

But, it almost feels like I'm violating her, like if read this I might read something I don't want to know, and something she doesn't want me to know. I should really give this back. How, is the only problem.

_Wednesday Morning_

My first class was Chemistry, with none other than Princess herself. I casually loped to class, wearing my uniform making sure I looked extra good today. Last night before going to sleep I had the diary snuck under my pillow, where no one could find it. Not even the guys knew I had it. I made a point to look extra good today, so if Princess wants to kill me, me looking this sharp will make it ten times harder for her.

None of my earrings are in. Normally, I sneak one or two studs in and the teachers never say anything. Today I took all of mine out. I showered as soon as I woke up, I like to smell as fresh as a daisy. Or whatever kind of bath wash they provide us with. I put on my black muscle shirt, and dark blue button down shirt over it. I pulled on the usual khakis and brown leather loafers. I took my black blazer with me, and loosely tied on my small black tie.

I made sure to grab my stupid flour sack and the diary and put them into my red back pack. I swung the backpack over one of my arms and walked to class like that. I felt like a million bucks. But, the way Trent was still looking at me I felt like shit.

He gives me the I'm-so-ashamed-to-know-you look. Like I stole his girlfriend. I didn't! Technically, I didn't. It isn't my fault that Gwen was attracted to me and not him. For all I know she could had been attracted to Trent at one point. But she opened up to me and we hung out a lot more and I guess we clicked.

But, I know what you're probably thinking. Well, Gwen and I are too much alike. I don't think we would have enough things going for us to be real. She's just a fun girl to hang around and go to parties with. Not that there have been any parties, yet.

Besides Courtney hasn't given me enough of a challenge to give up just yet. Right now it feels like I'm never giving up, and I love this feeling. I swung the door open to the Chemistry room, and casually sat down at the lab table next to Courtney.

She didn't notice that I sat down, she was scribbling something into her notebook. What, I had no idea class hasn't even started yet. I took a liking to Princess' appearance. Her light brown hair clipped to the side with a black hair pin.

She looked kind of cute like that, I could see more of her face. Her dark brown eyes, her freckles spread onto her nose, I traced her lips with my mind. But, back to business.

I swung my backpack onto our lab table. That caught her attention, she stopped writing and looked at me.

"Can you move that?" The first words she says.

"I can but I have something to show you, Princess."

She looks at me expectantly. Her face looked warily, and exhausted. She probably noticed her diary was gone. I wonder how that went this morning. What did Sierra say? Did Sierra say anything?

I unzip my red backpack. I pull out the flour sack and place it on the edge of the lab table, I heard Courtney grunt in disgust. I then pull our her purple and black journal.

She gasped, and her hands flew to the journal clutched into my hands.

"Give it!" she commanded.

I chuckled, "Oh, I don't think so Princess."

"Duncan! Where did you get that?" She clasped her hands onto the edges of the journal, and I didn't release my grip from it just yet.

"Your room, where you left it. Under your pillow."

She gasps, "You snooped through my stuff!"

"Not exactly, Princess. I saw Sierra rip a page out of here for scrap paper."

"What! How did she-

"She mentioned to me that your old habits haven't changed since home." I shrug, and tug on the diary more.

"Give it back, Duncan. I'm sure you already read through the whole thing you disgusting ogre, with no boundaries! All you seem to do is push the envelope!" For some reason this isn't going the way I planned. I didn't think she would go so crazy on me. It's not like I actually read it. Besides those three entries. But, I guess this is Princess. Full of surprises.

"For your information, _Princess _I didn't read your stupid journal!" I tugged it back.

"Then why do you have it, why did you _steal_ it from my room!" Then she tugs it back again.

"I don't know, Princess. Why did Sierra let me?" I pulled it back, and her hands let go. I put the journal under my butt, where she couldn't reach it. She made a face, and a disgusted, "Ew." noise.

"I don't know why my stupid sister let you out of her sight, especially with _my_ belongings. Now give it back!" She tried to reach for her journal, but stopped seeing that the only way she could get it is crawling her hands under my butt.

Which I wouldn't mind, but I know she would never.

"I'll give it back, calm down sweetheart."

"Don't call me that." She huffed.

"There's just a few things I want to go over with the content of this diary." I pulled the diary out from under me, and held it back. She didn't try and reach for it again. She waited.

"First, I want to say, you probably think I read this entire thing-

"I don't want to talk about _that_. It's too humiliating, I don't need to know what you read, just give it!" She reached her hand out for it again, but I pulled it back.

She grumbled something incoherently.

"There were only two entries I read. Well, three. But the first one was a snooze-fest, but you get the picture."

She exhaled, and stared at me some more. I took in her full features as she looked at me. Her hair had lighter streaks on brown in it, natural highlights from the sun. She wore the school uniform skirt, and replaced her knee socks with ankle socks instead. She proudly wore her plaid skirt sporting our school colors, with a matching solid color short sleeved polo shirt.

She rolled her eyes, obviously irritated with me and turned back facing forward. We were suppose to be working on some kind of Periodic Table element transition, so she pulled out a clean sheet of paper from her folder and started writing down the assignment.

I turned back around too, and started doing the same as her. I put the diary on the lab table, and slid it to her.

She glanced at the diary, and gave me an even quicker glance. She slowly put the diary into her brown suede bag, and didn't say anything. She didn't thank me. She didn't look at me again. Nothing.

"What did you read?" She started the assignment, asking me this without looking at me.

Even though I heard what she said, I managed to say, "Huh?" dumbfounded.

"What did you read about. What three entries?"

"The first one…the one about the kiss," I saw her wince out of the corner of my eye, "And the last one in there." She didn't say anything, she just kept on going with the assignment. Like I wasn't even there. This isn't going the way I planned it. Then again, I guess I didn't really plan how this would go.

"Are you mad?" I ask.

"Besides the fact that you've made your way uncomfortably into my life and read what I thought was my most secretive, safe place to let myself actually_ be myself_, and let my feelings out, I'm fine." She responds bitterly. I wasn't expecting that.

"Court-

"I'm not done." She snapped. I leaned back and waited.

"I'm mad that my sister went through my diary, and left it out in the open for a complete stranger to see! I hate that she didn't stop you from taking it too! And you know what? I hate that stupid flour sack!" She shouts, and gives the flour sack a good punch and it falls to the floor. Some kids look in our direction. I give them all angry glares, and they look away.

I disregard the sack and listen to Courtney as she rants.

"And you know what else? I hate that my sister is here, but I guess you already knew that! You _read_ about it! I hate that she is drooling all over you, and now you're both playing house to a freaking flour sack! That's wearing_ my _shirt!" Her voice was shrill now, but not loud enough for everyone to hear, thankfully.

Damn, she was on a roll.

"And want to know what else I hate?" She seethed.

I raised my eyebrow waiting for her to go on. I could see it. The words on her lips, about to come out. But, she didn't say them. She didn't say…_anything_. She clenched her tiny hands into fists, and clamped her mouth shut. Like she wasn't about to scream the word, "YOU!" for everyone to hear.

She faced the front of the room again, and continued with the assignment. As if everything was normal.

As if I didn't read her diary.

As if she didn't punch my Psychology homework.

As if she didn't rant about her sister.

As if she didn't hate me.

**Aw, sad ending :( Don't worry the next chapter will be up soon! Thank you for everyone who has taken their time to read this and enjoy the story! Also thanks to everyone who likes to review and add in their comments! You all rock ILY :D**

**- Johnna  
**


	16. Even the Best Fall Down, Sometimes

**Yay, I got this up a day earlier than i thought I would have! So this chapter is kind of shortish, because this chapter and the last chapter were almost like parts 1 and 2 of each other. But, I'm glad I have this one up again! Once again I want to thank all of you amazing readers, and reviewers, and thanks CARMILLA, not Camilla ;) for all of my awesome reviews and feedback! oh, and another thing I KEEP FORGETTING TO MENTION. The character Sierra is NOT the one from the show. She is an OC, created by a reviewer, Devil of Hearts. She asked me to fit the character into the story, and I found Sierra's way into it! So she is an Other Character. I know I must have confused you guys, i'm SO sorry for that!**

**And don't forget a new TDWT is on tomorrow night! And This week marks my last week of Summer School! YAYAYAYAAY**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Total Drama series, or its characters!  
**

_Wednesday morning_

_Courtney P.O.V._

When the bell rang I rushed out of chemistry as quickly as I could. Everyone was staring at me. At us. It was too much. I had it. With everything, with this school, with Sierra, with Duncan. She won. Again. She got her way, she weaseled her way into my life, into my school which I had already loved so much already. Now she has to have Duncan. She's a year older than him, really? Find some other guy. Any. Other. Guy. I didn't realize I was this territorial toward Duncan. But, maybe I'm just like this when it comes to anything Sierra wants that was sort of already mine. Or pretty close to mine. Really close.

Now Duncan knows. Thanks to Sierra he knows that I like him. Or sort of liked him. That I felt something. He didn't have to know anything. I kept him at arms length. At a distance. I wish he could stay there.

_Since you went psycho on him, he'll be more than happy to._ A voice in my mind nagged at me. I entered the girls bathroom and locked myself into the first stall. I dropped my bag beside me and started practicing deep breaths.

When I was fourteen my parent put me into therapy for a little while. My therapist taught me to inhale and exhale when I was stressed. I don't care if I am late for my next class. I have gym next. Whoo-freaking-hoo. I rummage through my bag, searching for my small pack of _Kleenex_ tissues I always carry around. I find the small plastic package and pull it out, dropping my bad beside my feet again.

I tear the package open and start wiping my eyes. As the small tears fall, I see my black mascara I had so delicately applied this morning come off and onto the tissue. I never put on my make-up too heavy. I always add light mascara, slight eyeliner and cover-up when necessary.

I bet my make-up is all smudged now. I bet there are black tear-stained streaks running down my face. I probably look like a clown. I sure feel like one. Like a fool, an idiot. I can't believe I lost it back there in class like that. I told Duncan I hated him. Well, almost. I might as well have.

Even though I didn't say the word, his expression said it all. He was hurt, I could tell. This sucks. Whenever I want to fix something, or at least try to make things slightly less sucky, I make them worse. It's like the man who wished that everything he touched turned to gold. I'm like the girl who ruins everything with one single touch.

I wipe around my eyes with my tissue, and get out of the stall. I approach one of the mirrors and look at myself. I look the same. My makeup was now cried off, and my eyes were red, and only slightly puffy, sadly I looked better than I expected.

I hear the ringing of the bell, and now I am officially late for gym. Oh, poo. Gym class, with Duncan. Two of my least favorite things. Then again I detest my sister more than gym class.

I scowl and the thought of their two names and return to the bathroom stall to grab my bag. I sling it over my shoulder, and hastily shoved the tissues into my bag again. I take out my black clip and let my hair fall back to the way it naturally does.

My hair forms its natural wave that I hate, but today I don't mind it. Staring at my reflection I realize something.

Like my hair, life isn't perfect. So maybe I should stop trying to force things. Like I should stop trying to straighten my hair when it always falls back to its light wave. I should stop trying to push Duncan away, stop wishing my sister were gone and just deal with it. Because there is no other way to solve my problems. Complaining, and teasing my hair won't give me pin-straight hair like my sister.

Crying and stressing myself out won't make life perfect. So why don't I stop whining and driving myself crazy when acting like this isn't even worth it. I run my fingers through my hair. I wonder why I don't realize this before, and start walking to class.

_Gym class_

I'm twenty minutes late to gym. I enter the gym building, and my gym teacher, Ms. Rossi has her black whistle around her neck wearing her pink rolled up sweatpants and white t-shirt. Her hair in two French braids, and her arms crossed watching the kids run laps around our enormous gym.

I approach Ms. Rossi, who I now notice is wearing a new pair of pink and white Nike sneakers. Hm, cute. I have my gym clothes shoved into my bag, wrinkled and unfolded. Which is kind of driving me crazy. But, I didn't feel like changing in my room, when I went back to grab them so I shoved them in my bag and left.

I clear my throat, and Ms. Rossi looks over to me.

"Courtney, you're late." She informs me, like I didn't already know this.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just had some um…issues." I explain uneasily.

"Okay then, you know the rules. Be late two more times and you have to run laps for a full hour after classes." She says, not looking at me anymore, but watching the class.

"I know." I say quietly, and scurry around Ms. Rossi to go to the girls locker room.

The locker room is empty. The white tiled floor is sticky as my feet scuffle across it. The lights are dim and I can hear the echo's from outside the locker room of my gym class getting together to start today's activity. I walk into a bathroom stall and lock the door. I so don't want to do this right now. But, I'm not in the mood to get a zero for the day. So I change out of my uniform into my wrinkled gym uniform. Black shorts, and a blue t-shirt with my school's name on the back of it.

I step out of the stall and leave my stuff in the locker room along with all of the other bags and books that belong to the other girls. The ones who arrived on time.

I enter the gym again, and it looks like our class is dividing into two teams for some stupid game. We played soccer all last week, and we were playing dodge ball earlier this week. I can't play dodge ball, I can only pray that we're doing something else.

When all of the teams are picked, I'm left standing beside Ms. Rossi. She notices me, once again and points to the right side of the gym, where our class has already split up into teams. With the way the gym is set-up, we're playing dodge ball again. Joy. I grumble, and approach more bad news when I realize I'm on the same team as Duncan.

It's like I can't escape him.

I cross my arms over my chest as I keep walking until I reach my team.

I catch Duncan watching me, but he looks away as soon as he sees me, seeing him. Does that even make sense? Whatever. I don't have to make sense, I'm miserable. I'm miserable and being forced to play dodge ball.

I lean against the wall, and stand next to some frizzy, curly haired, red head girl named Izzy. Izzy is certifiably insane. Literally. She attends our school because it's safe for her to attend a boarding school so she can't escape, and her mother works on campus as the school nurse, so she gets to go here for free.

But, she isn't that bad.

I lied. I kind of hate her.

"Hey Courtney! You're late today! That's so funny, because you're _never_ late! I was actually just talking with my buddy, Owen, but I call him Big O, so I say 'Hey Big O!' and he says 'Hi, Izzy.' and then he did the cutest thing, he had this little laugh and then-

"SHUT UP!" I shout. I don't want to shout but that's what happens.

Izzy looks shocked. Her mouth clamps shut. Then she grins again and starts blabbering more.

"Wow, Courtney!" She giggles. "I've never heard you freak like that! Okay, talk to you later we got a game to play!" And just like that Ms. Rossi blew her whistle, and everyone ran to the center of the gym, to grab a dodge ball to start the game.

Except for me, and then those random prissy girls everyone always runs into. The ones who do nothing in gym, and look totally uninterested in life, and stare at their nails, or linger in the corner of the gym with a small group of friends. That's so fake it is enough to make me spew all over the floor. But, of course I can't do that.

Dodge balls start flying everywhere. I try and avoid each one coming in my direction. I successfully dodge three balls, and don't think about Duncan. Scratch that, I successfully dodged _two_ balls.

I look at Duncan, who is running around, dodging balls, and throwing balls. Getting kids on the other team out. I sigh and look forward again. A huge dodge ball comes hurdling toward me. Crap. Crap. Crap. What do I do? I wince, and squeeze my eyes shut, and put my arms out. I catch the ball.

I open my eyes, and grin at my triumph, and watch as I got some random girl on, sit on the bleachers with the other kids who were already out. For some reason this gets me going. It feels like all my rage is inside the red dodge ball, and if I let it go, and let it smash into someone, it will be gone.

So I do just that. I pull my arm back as far as I can, and release it. It hits someone square in the stomach, and I successfully get someone else out. I hear Izzy laughing, screaming, and running around the gym like some manic.

She runs up toward me, "Wow! Courtney great job! Who knew you had it in you!" She asks, running around me giggling, and then she runs away again.

She is so strange, I don't think I would ever be able to keep up with her, even if I wanted to.

"Yeah, for once the psycho is right. You are doing good today, Princess." Another ball comes hurdling toward me and I catch it at the sound of his voice.

I get someone else out. And I turn my head to my right. Duncan is standing right next to me, and he keeps glancing at me, while keeping his eyes on the game. He throws the dodge ball, and the ball bounces off of someone's arm. Another one out.

I ignore Duncan's compliment, even though I desperately want to apologize for acting like a total spaz earlier on. But, I can't apologize unless he does. HE is the one who read my diary. HE is the one who flaunted it in front of me. HE is the one who is driving me up the wall twenty-four/seven. HE is the one who keeps hanging around my sister when he clearly knows I can't stand her.

"Don't you have a flour sack to be taking care of?" I ask bitterly.

"I asked Ms. Rossi to 'baby-sit' it." He rolls his eyes.

I think he expects me to laugh, smile, or at least react to his negative attitude toward the flour sack. Which is what I want, but I don't see his point. So I don't do anything. I see out of the corner of my eye Duncan look at me again. But, really look at me. I keep my eyes and head looking forward, like I give two shits about this game. Then a ball comes flying toward Duncan, and he is out.

And I'm still in.

_English class_

This is my last class before I can break for lunch. So I get to go through one more hour, _one more Duncan-free hour _before facing him again for lunch. I slip into my English class, fortunately on time. Ms. Molina, my English teacher is at her desk, reading a book waiting for the bell to ring.

Most of my class is already here, talking or keeping busy. English is one of my favorite classes. Probably because I can relax the most, and whenever I step into this room I get into this good mood. With today being an exception, I step into a slightly positive mood.

Ms. Molina is the one teacher I can relate to. She is nice, and friendly. Even though she is everything I wouldn't be as a teacher, she is still easy to talk to if I have problems. Which is why as I sit in my desk, I'm contemplating if I should speak with her about my current issue with Duncan. Of course, she won't have to know it is Duncan, he is her student for one of her other classes, and that would get messy.

But, I'm trying to figure out if I'm taking this too far. I mean Duncan looked sorry. Well, as sorry as he can look. I mean it's _Duncan._ I'm just glad I have my diary back. Now I can burn it. I'll never update it again. No one has to know it ever existed. Eva and Bridgette didn't know it existed, and they're my roommates.

But, leave it to Sierra to screw something perfectly fine up. I scowl to my thoughts, and sink into my seat. The bell rings, and Ms. Molina gets up to shut the class room door.

I try to fill my head with pleasant thoughts, distracting me from Duncan and Sierra.

Butterflies.

Bunnies.

That gorgeous red dress I bought a while back.

That hideous shirt Geoff really wanted to buy that same night.

That gets me to smile. Then my smile turns into a giggle, and I feel better. Only slightly though. I sit up straight in my desk, and turn my attention to Ms. Molina who starts talking about some new novel we're going to read as a class. Hopefully, it isn't something old and ancient, brought back from the depths of the 1920s.

When I see her passing out the novel, _The Scarlet Letter_ I cringe, and silently moan. I've read this book twice already. In seventh grade, and in ninth grade. I sigh and look at the cover and think of the tragic tale in my mind.

Then I compare the life of the character Hester Prynn to mine, and figure _things could be worse._

My mind floats back to Sierra, and my stomach starts churning all over again.

_Lunch_

With my old copy of _The Scarlet Letter_ in my bag, along with my notebooks and folders I trudge along to lunch. My next class is Western Civ. Another class with Duncan. And then he has Psychology with….I grunt and sit down at the circular table with Bridgette. Bridgette is sitting with Gwen, why I don't know. I told Bridgette all about what happened when I overheard Duncan and Geoff talking. So why is Gwen sitting here at our table.

I hide my scowl, and take my seat.

"Hey Court, how was class?" Bridgette asks casually.

"It was fine, boring. But, fine." I half lie. It was awful, and boring. Awfully boring.

"So Court, you know Gwen, right?" Bridgette smiles, and gestures her hand toward Gwen.

I want to shout, "OF COURSE I FREAKING KNOW GWEN. I DON'T LIKE HER. BUT, I KNOW HER." But, I can't say that. So I say,

"Yeah, I know Gwen, we have history together." and add a small smile.

Gwen nods her head.

There is an awkward silence, and small tension at our table. But I'm sure I'm the only one who is tense. Bridgette is animatedly making conversation, and Gwen is nodding her head, but she doesn't look angry, or mean. She just looks sad. Disappointed. Upset. Up close, she doesn't look as bad as I make her out to be.

After I get up and get in line to grab lunch. Gwen comes with me, not because she wants to, but by coincidence. As I wait in line I see Duncan from across the room sitting with Dj, Tyler, and a few other guys I don't know or recognized. I hear Gwen sigh, and I glance at her.

I follow her stare, and it matches mine. She was looking at Duncan too. It must suck that he led her on like that. What a jerk.

"He's not worth it." I find myself saying.

"Huh?" Gwen's frantic.

"Duncan isn't worth. I'm not sure what you see in him, but he isn't worth it, Gwen."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gwen stares straight forward, and looks over our lunch selections. Crap or more crap. Hm…

"I know about the kiss, Gwen. I'm sorry it happened like that." I say, and scoop macaroni and cheese onto my plate. I haven't had this since I was eleven. I have to silently admit I'm excited.

"He told you?" Gwen asks quietly, putting food on her lunch tray. We both move down and look over more options.

"No, but he told Geoff, and I overheard them in Western Civ. Remember how everyone was staring at them the other day?" "Shit." I heard Gwen mumble.

"You mean you didn't hear them?"

"I didn't want to. So I tried my best to block them out. Apparently, it worked." Gwen puts a carton of milk on her tray, and I put bottled water on mine. We walk back to our table together.

"You should just forget him and move on. I could name fifty guys off the top of my head who are better than him." _I can?_

"You can?" Gwen asks in disbelief. I want to scoff but I don't. I don't see why she is so surprised. Duncan is such a tool and a jerk, an insensitive jerk I should add, that it shouldn't surprise ANYONE.

"Yes." I respond confidently.

Bridgette furrows her brow, probably scared to know what we're talking about.

"Like who?" Gwen challenges.

"Like…Trent!" I answer with a slight smug expression on my face.

Gwen doesn't say anything, she looks like she's _considering_ something. So I smile to myself and start eating my lunch.

"Do I want to know what either of you were just talking about?" Bridgette asks, running her fingers through her silky straight blonde hair.

"No." Gwen and I answer in unison. Then we exchange glances and smile at the same time. So maybe she isn't so bad. But, I still don't enjoy her company. At least I moved on from hating her, to not wanting to kill her.

But, I suppose my only reason for not liking Gwen was because of what happened with Duncan. But, since in my world Duncan doesn't exist, I don't have to hate Gwen. Everything is fine. No Duncan, no Sierra. I'm happy, I'm not thinking of them. La, la, la.

I feel a hand clasp on my shoulder. I turn around, and see Duncan. I scowl.

"Listen, can we talk?" he says.

"No." And I turn around again.

I hear him release an exhausted sigh. I look at Gwen to see what she's doing, she's just looking down at her lunch, eating.

I shoot Bridgette a look who is staring at me. Then I glance to Gwen. Luckily, Bridgette catches on and starts a conversation with Gwen about music.

"I'm not leaving until you agree to talk to me." Duncan whispers in my ear. It's more like behind my ear, but he's so close to me, I keep getting chills. I scold myself angrily.

"Get _bent_, Duncan." I angrily stab my fork into my lunch. I feel bad for stabbing, but I remind myself it's just food.

"Love to." Duncan says sarcastically. "Seriously, Court. Give me five minutes to talk outside, and then you can avoid me and hate me all you want for the rest of the year." He has no idea who tempting that last part sounds.

"Whatever you have to say you can say in front of me, Bridgette, and Gwen." Gwen looks up from her conversation and looks at Duncan. I can tell he is looking at her too.

"Uh…no I can't, actually." He says, and I know he's looking at me again.

"Tough break, Duncan." I shrug, and put a forkful of macaroni and cheese into my mouth. I start twisting my water bottle cap open and Duncan starts up again.

"Courtney. Please." I drink my water, and turn my head to look at him this time. His eyes are big. Open. Pleading, begging for me to talk to him for five minutes.

"Three minutes." I negotiate.

"Deal." I get up and follow Duncan out the back of the cafeteria, wondering desperately what he could want this time.

**Yeah, this chapter was on the sad side. The next one will be better though! I'll have that up sometime soon! Thanks again for everything, i love hearing from you guys 3**

**- Johnna  
**


	17. Speaking Before Thinking

**Hi! So here's the latest chapter, I'm really happy you're all enjoying it so far. This chapter wasn't so great. I didn't like it so much, I didn't have time to go over it and fix it, like I usually do. This one was sort of rushed, but I wanted it to be up by today, because I like to update each Monday with regular length chapters, or two updates a week with short chapters. My next chapter will be up by next Monday, I'm sure =] Thanks again for all of the support! Last night I went to the American Idol concert, it was really fun. Season 9 wasn't really a popular season, but I liked it. My favorites this year were Katie, Aaron, and Tim. Did anyone of you guys go? I got to meet them before & after the show, and they're all super nice! 3 **

**A new TDWT tonight! I'm pretty excited for that! I hope for you guys who already have it showing, are excited for it too! I didn't like last weeks elimination(I won't say who)**

**Oh, and I don't know how many more chapters until I'm finished with Chasing You, I make this up as I go along, lol well sort of I plan SOME stuff out lmao. But, I've been brain storming new story ideas. I have three in mind, two of which I will definitely write but one of them I might not write, because it might not attract readers. **

**But, would you guys be interested in me writing an upcoming Bridgette & Geoff fanfiction? I already started writing it out, and I have the plot too. If you want to know the plot, I can reply to your review and let you know. But, I'm not sure how well it would do because DxC is the most popular here, and then another one I was planning was a Gwen and Trent one. The third one was actually a Katie and DJ. Which yeah, you're probably thinking ..."Okay what they aren't even real." lmao but the plot was good, well in my mind. But, that's the one where I was like, yeah no one would read that. But, we'll see. So let me know if you would be interested in the BxG one, because I'm stoked to write that one.**

**Crap, that is so long -_- lmao i love you guys, have fun reading this!**

**p.s. I FINISHED SUMMER SCHOOL AHHH YEAHHHH  
**

_Wednesday afternoon_

_Duncan P.O.V_

Courtney, grudging followed me out the backdoor of the cafeteria with her arms crossed against her chest. I could hear her brush her feet against the ground, so annoyed with my presence she refuses to walk. I hold the door to the cafeteria open for her, and I take her "Hmph!" as a thank you. I shut the door behind me, blocking out the sounds of the cafeteria.

A breeze runs through, and Courtney drops her arms and looks at me.

"What do you want, Duncan?" She snapped.

Ouch, I didn't even say anything yet. Usually she likes to wait until I _speak_ to be a bitch.

"I want to make things better." I spit out.

She looks taken back. She raised her right eyebrow, and make a humming noise. The sound she usually makes when considering something.

"How do you plan to do that? You already gave me my diary back, you already did as much as you can do. So just leave it alone." She says.

"Courtney, I don't like arguing with you," I pause. "Well, actually I love it. But, only when you do too." I add as an afterthought.

"You called me Courtney." she says quietly.

"Uh yeah, I did. It's your name." "I know!" She snaps. "But, ninety-nine percent of the time, I'm Princess." she scoffs.

"That's just a…nothing." I roll my eyes. "Can we just get past this?"

"Duncan, that's not the point!" She sighs exasperatedly. "I'm not mad because you took my diary, well yeah I am, but there are only so many little things you can do that totals up to one huge explosive pain!" Courtney ends her sentence with manic hand motions.

I watch her and let her vent. She doesn't say anything more. She begins to inhale and exhale. She takes her last breath and looks to me.

"I want you to forgive me, I never do shit like this. So tell me what to do, and I'll do it." I say. Hell, I'm _begging_. This is kind of humiliating.

Courtney stares at me. She's enjoying this. She's capturing the moment with the camera in her eyes. She's been waiting for this kind of humiliation from me since school began. I know it.

"Fine."

"Fine?" I wait for her to say more.

"Yes, fine. I'll let you know when I think of something." She says.

I roll my eyes. I already have a feeling I know what she wants.

"You can cut the crap, Courtney. I know what you want."

"You do?"

"You want me to lay off Sierra, don't you?" I cross my arms.

"That's a start." I heard her mutter.

I groan, I hate that she's making me wait.

"My patience is wearing thin." I tell her.

"What the hell, Duncan! If you want my forgiveness so badly, the least you can do is give me _time_."

"I have given you time!" I unrepentantly shout.

"What are you talking about?" She runs her fingers through her hair.

I can't believe I'm about to say what I say, but what the Hell do I have to lose?

"Court, I've been _waiting for you_. You know I like you, and I _know_ you feel something for me. So when are you going to do something about it?"

She just stares at me. She doesn't say anything. She faces me, and for a second I think she's going to kiss me. But, she doesn't. You know what? This sucks, I've been giving my all for this girl from the beginning, well sort of, and I've been getting nothing in return. For once in my life, I'm honest with someone, and she refuses to look at me.

"Courtney?" I whisper.

"What?" She whispers back, she turns around to overlook the entire campus.

"Please," I grip my voice, "tell me what you're thinking."She turns around and her forehead is creased, and her eyes are big and sad. I couldn't hear her clearly, but whatever she mumbled sounded like, "I'm not ready." and then she turned back to go into the cafeteria, and I swore I heard her whisper, "I'm sorry." and the door closed following.

Instead of going back to the cafeteria I go back to my room. I contemplate whether I should go to Western Civ. Or not. I guess I might as well catch up with Geoff, since we were talking at lunch, but I dropped out conversation to talk with Princess. But, he didn't mind so much.

I open the door to my room, to my surprise to find Trent sitting on his bed, strumming at his guitar, quietly singing under his breath. He didn't even stop to see me walk in the room.

I quietly shut the door, figuring he wasn't going to talk to me anyway. I lay down on the couch, and shut my eyes for a little bit. Figure I have twenty minutes to sleep here if I decide to go to class. After Western Civilization, I have psychology. Another class I'm not looking forward to.

Trent's strumming stopped. "You know, we can't go on like this forever." He says unexpectedly.

I open one eye and peer at Trent, who is laying back on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I know, dude. But, I'm just waiting for you to cool off. I'm not really angry about anything." I say closing my eye.

"You shouldn't be. I'm the one who's mad at _you_, remember?" He chuckles very lightly for a second.

"Man, like I've said before. I'm sorry about that stuff that went down with Gwen. It wasn't suppose to happen that way. I didn't want to kiss her, it was like a freak accident." I open my eyes, and sit up on the couch. Trent tilts his head to look at me too.

"Yeah, man. I know." He groans, and sits up too. "I just needed time, and I guess I blew up on you because….well, I was just angry, and you were there."

"Understandable, bro." I nod my head.

"So, are we good?" Trent asks.

I grin, "Yeah. We're good."

"Awesome, because I hated being in a fight with my room mate. Felt like a total chick thing." He rolls his eyes, and we both crack up laughing.

"Oh shit." I say checking the time. "What's up?"

"I got class in ten minutes."

"I got a free period now, and then I have gym with Dj later. But, how about me and you hang later?" Trent says.

I get up from the couch and try to find my book bag. _Did I leave it in the cafeteria? _"Sounds good." I mumble. _Found it!_ I grab my bag by the door and swing it open, rushing to get to class, because I can't afford to be late…again.

_Western Civ. Class_

With three minutes to spare, I walk into class and take my seat by Geoff, who is trying to balance a pencil on his nose. I think this guy becomes more strange every time I see him. When he spots me, the pencil falls off his face and onto his desk.

"Duncan, 'sup bro? How'd it go at lunch?" he wants to know.

I sigh, and look to the front of the room, Courtney isn't here yet. She usually gets here before I do. I look to the right side of the room, and Gwen isn't here yet either. I take advantage of the opportunity to tell Geoff what happened, not having to risk my life with either girls hearing.

"Well, I talk to Princess and she's being a royal _pain_."

"How so?"

"I tell her I feel bad for taking her stupid diary, and she doesn't even want to listen to me! Then I tell her I _know_ she likes me, and she should stop being so secretive about it and go out with me!"

Geoff's eyes get round, and big. Which freaks me out. "What?" I ask.

"Dude," Geoff chuckles. "You've gone soft." "Shut up! Have not, you don't know _what_ you're talking about, man." I roll my eyes.

"Whatever dude, whatever." Geoff says lightly.

The door opened and Gwen and Courtney came walking in. Scratch that. Gwen and Courtney came walking in, TOGETHER. I think my mouth dropped because Geoff whispered, "Dude, close it." to me.

I never, never, thought I would see those two walking in together, laughing, smiling and talking. It's a sight to see, really. Even our teacher looked surprise to see the two walking in together.

Courtney sat in her seat, and Gwen walked over into hers, the bell rang and our teacher got up and began setting up the projector to continue the movie we were watching from yesterday.

"What was _that_?" I sputtered.

"Don't know, dude. Don't know." Geoff said shaking his head.

Our teacher crossed the room to shut the lights off and started playing the movie. I slumped into my seat, and kept staring at the back of Princess's head, wondering what just happened.

I grinned, and pulled out a sheet of paper.

**Hey Princess, make a new friend?**

**- The Duncinator**

I flicked the note at the back of her head. Her hand flew to her head, and she immediately turned around to glare at me. I only smirked. She narrowed her eyes at me, and bent down to pick up the note. A watched her unfold the note, and pull out a pen to write a response.

**Not that it's any business to you, but yes. Gwen and I are now acquaintances.**

**- Courtney**

**I thought you both hated each other.**

**-Duncs o' love**

**Hate is a strong word. & what in the world is Duncs o' love?**

**- Courtney**

**You hate me. & I don't know what Duncs o' love is, I made it up, Princess.**

**Your point?**

**-Court**

**I was just curious to see why you were both so friendly.**

**-xoxoxxxxxxoxxxx**

**^lovely. And I don't know, we found common ground, and now we work up from there, you could say.**

**- Courtney**

**Common ground being?**

**- tall, dark, and handsome.**

**None of you business, and as if with these stupid sign off names, get real. OGRE.**

**- Court**

**Bitter.**

**- D  
**

**You love it.**

**- C  
**

**True dat.**

**-The 'D' man.**

**So, I think I know what I want you to do for me.**

**-princess.**

**Are you referring to yourself as 'princess' to butter me up, dear?**

** -Your knight.**

**Quite possibly, yes.**

**-hugs and ki…never mind, that's repulsive.**

I chuckled at her last response, and glanced up to the teacher, who was clearly playing an intense game of solitaire behind his computer. I smirked and looked down to the note. What could she possibly want?

**Name it.**

**- Me.**

**Lay off Sierra. Clearly, she likes you. Not to feed your ego more than it needs. But, cool it.**

**-C**

**Why so sudden?**

**-D**

**Because, I thought about what you said. We should give it a try.**

**-Court**

**Give what a try, princess?**

**-D man**

**Us.**

I grinned. So it worked. I finally got little miss perfect to crack, and listen to me. But, I have been laying off Sierra. She has only been working with me for this stupid psychology project, and oh crap, I forgot that stupid flour sack in my room. I need to go grab that before class.

**So, how am I suppose to do that? I can't help it if she's attractive to my charming personality, and rugged looks.**

**- Duncan**

**You made me vomit it in my mouth. You left out incredible modesty too.**

**- Courtney**

**Sorry babe, you fell for it too.**

**-D**

**Just lay off. Tell her you're not interested in her, and that you like someone else.**

**- C**

**Can't I just tell her it's you?**

**Not yet. I can tell her.**

**- Courtney**

**Fine. I'll tell her during psychology.**

**- Sexy beast**

**Ew. Fine. Okay, bye. We can talk tonight, in the library? Around eight?**

**- Courtney**

**It's a date : )**

**-Duncan**

**: )**

I folded the note with her last response and put it in my back pocket.

I ran into my psychology class just as the bell was ringing. Going out of my way to go to my room to grab the stupid flour sack made going all the way across campus a longer trip than normal. Ms. Usenia sent me a disapproving look as I made my way to my seat.

I sat behind Sierra, and she quickly turned around sending me a friendly smile.

"How's it going?" she asks.

I shrug, "It's going." I reply casually. _Try to remain low key. Be more like your old self. Bitter and cold._ Ever since I moved to this school I have to admit, to myself at least, I have gone a little…ugh, soft.

Sierra more than happily took the flour sack off my desk and began cradling it. I resisted to roll my eyes and watched her.

"So how has the baby been, dear?" She asks with a small smile on her face.

"Eh." I shrug.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "What does 'eh' mean?"

"It means….ya know, eh." I respond incoherent.

"Riiight." She places the flour sack back on my best. "You do know that 'eh', won't get you an A on your paper."

"I know, that's why _you're_ gonna write it for me." I slouch in my seat, and fix my posture.

No, I wasn't planning on harassing Sierra and making her write my paper. But, I figure being more hostile toward her would be a turn off. But hey, if that plan fails, at least I got out of writing a paper.

"I'm not writing your paper. I'm not even a student for the class." Sierra says simply.

"I know that, but babe? That's not how I get things to work, sorry." I shrug again.

Sierra rolled her green eyes. "Well, I'm sorry too, _babe_ but you're writing your own paper. Maybe if you're lucky I'll help." Then she smiled at me, _again. _Man, it's like I can't shake this girl.

Ms. Usenia finished calling attendance, and gathered all of our attention.

"Okay guys, listen up, today's class I want you to get together with your spouse, and start discussing the family and the future. Discuss your views on college, religion, and politics. What you want for the baby, and what kind of person you would like to see your baby to become."

Everyone broke out into their couples with their flour sack and began the project. Sierra turned her desk around to connect with mine.

"So what are your views on religion?" She asks.

"I have none." I respond.

"None?" she sounds surprised. "Do you believe in…a higher power?"

"You mean God? I don't know, I guess. I mean…I don't really care." I tell her.

"Well, my family and I are Catholic. If you don't mind I would like our baby to share the same religion views as me. Since, I mean…you have none."

"Go ahead, fine with me." I drawl.

Sierra pulls a sheet of paper out of her purple binder and starts recording our answers.

"What are your views on college for Max?"

"Who?" I blink twice.

"The baby." She answers flatly.

"Oh right, him." I smirk to myself. "Uh, you can pick. I don't care."

Sierra sighs, and writes down the words _Ivy League_ on the paper.

"What are your views on college, Duncan?" She puts the pen down.

"Works for some…not for me." I tell her.

"Not for you?" She repeats in disbelief.

"Nah. I've given it some thought, well no I haven't." I chuckle.

Sierra shakes her head. "I think you should know that college is for everyone. I'm applying to all of the major Ivy league schools this year, and then of course I have my fallback schools too. I have to start on those college apps later in the year, but I digress." Sierra says her mind wandering.

"Wow. Yeah, well college is for people like you."

"People like me?" She repeats.

"Yeah, together, organized, and smart."

I noticed her blushing very lightly. "Well, thanks. But, you can go to college too. Anyone can. I promise."

"Yeah, luckily I won't have to think about that until next year." I shrug it off.

Sierra wanted to say something else, but I could tell but she held back. I guess she isn't use to people like me. People that don't have college in their future. It's just a waste. I mean I didn't even plan on finishing high school before my parent shipped me off to this boarding school.

At least here I'll make it a step further than I thought I would. I'll finish high school, and then I'll start a career. I mean I don't even know what I want to be but who cares about that right now.

"How old would you like our child to start dating?" she asks.

"I don't care." I answer.

She sighs annoyed. "Duncan, do you have an answer for _anything_?"

"Guess not." I hide my smirk.

She grunts and writes down an answer. Plan-try-to-aggrivate-Sierra-and-try-to-subtly-get-her-to-lay-off is in action.

"Duncan, this isn't working out." Sierra says. She tucks a strand of her brown hair behind her ear and stares at me until I say something. I trace her features with my mind and can only think of her similarities to Courtney, and how I would rather be arguing with her than getting along with Sierra.

"Maybe you should ask Ms. Usenia for a new partner. I mean I can handle this anyway." I lie. I can't do this, but I can do as well as I usually do on my projects. I mean all I gotta do is Google a couple of graphs on how well new parents do, and compare them to couples that wait longer to have kids. Copy and paste for a good two pages and then I'm done.

It's just a lot easier when you have some chick do it for you.

"No, no. I don't mind helping you," She says quickly. "I just think you should contribute more to this parenting project. I mean we are married." She adds in this small smile. And I lose it.

"Sierra, this isn't working." I grunt, and throw my head down on the desk.

"What isn't working?" She sounds confused.

I lift my head slowly, and look up at her. Her expression softened, and her hair fell loose in front of her face. She pushed it back with one hand.

"I like your sister, Sierra. That's why this isn't working. I know you want me, but it's not gonna work out. Sorry." I cross my arms and shrug at the last word.

"Wow." She whispers almost inaudible.

I wait. She says something else. She glances at me through her dark eyelashes, and looks down. She clears her throat, and tucks her hair behind her ears.

"I think I should go. I'm sorry if I've ever cause you trouble, Duncan. You and Courtney." She begins to collect her things and I just stare.

"And for the record, if I knew you were actually taking my sisters diary, I _so_ would have kicked your pathetic ass. You lying, jerk! You kept leading me on, you suck." She got up from her seat, and with everyone staring(Including Ms. Usenia) she stormed out of the room.

Obviously Courtney gets the whole storming off scene thing from her. But, that's besides the point. I think what just happened was the exact opposite of what Princess wanted to happen. But, oh well. It was the only way it could have been done. No harm no foul, right?

"Everyone please go back to your work." Ms. Usenia said, and everyone turned their attention away from me.

"You too, Duncan." She says nodding to me.

I grunt and take out a new sheet of paper, since Sierra took the other one, and I begin to write down what I would want my stupid, future, flour sacks life would be like.

**Sorry for the lame chapter, new one next Monday :) P.S. let me know if you want an upcoming BxG Fic!**


	18. Elevator

**Hi beautiful people! This update is my longest one yet, and I really hope you guys like it. I THINK YOU WILL =D ! I think I might have another update by the end of this week, because I already started the next chapter! I hope you all have a beautiful sunshine-y day! I'm in a great mood, I rode my bike and went for a walk with my friends. Get up & get active! Trust me it took me a LOT to pull my bike up from the depths of my basement, fill it with air and ride it lol but I am so proud :) Keep healthy, I love you all! Thanks for the reviews on previous chapters, and for the excitement for my upcoming Bridgette&Geoff story, which will come when this one is finished! (& i have new plots for a new DxC story & a TxG story) Whoo, I'm super pumped! I love you guys, thanks so much, for everything! P.S. NEW TDWT TONIGHT! Toon in! (Get it? TOON in, it's a pun)**

_Friday night_

If I were having chick problems you wouldn't even know it. I haven't spoken to Sierra or Courtney in like three days. Gwen is still ignoring me, of course. But, she hasn't been as harsh. She's actually been looking at me.

Sierra stopped coming to psychology, and every time I tried to talk to Courtney she would mumble something along the lines of, 'Not now, Duncan.' I've tried to talk to her every day. I finally pulled her aside during Gym class yesterday and asked her if she was going to Geoff's killer party in the library.

She seemed surprised to hear the words 'party' and 'library' in the same sentence. But, she rolled her eyes in agreement and walked away from me quickly. For some reason she is avoiding me. I mean if she weren't avoiding me, there would be no way she would rush back to gym.

I guess tonight I would finally have the time to talk with her. I'm going to the library to set up with Geoff soon. The library closes at seven on Friday nights. So we're going down there at eight.

He told me he convinced Bridgette to see things his way, and for her to slip him the key so we can break into the library. Bridgette already worked her hours earlier today, so it would look less suspicious on her part this way.

The only major risk is Bridgette could lose her job. But, there is no way anyone is going to catch on. Geoff's parties rock, and never once have the cops ever shut down one of his parties. Okay, well once. But, that was his first party he didn't know any better.

Geoff has five older brothers, and one older sister. His sister is the oldest out of all of them. When it became a house full of guys that's when all of the partying started. It's like a right of passage for the guys. The partying throne gets passed down to each son, and when they're done with high school house parties I assume they move onto college dorm parties. Awesome.

I stood in the full length mirror scanning my appearance. My red converse sneakers, my favorite pair of jeans. With the perfect amount of tears and holes in it, to my mom's displeasure. I snuck these in my suitcase after she did a full out check of my luggage.

I threw on my favorite black t-shirt, and put all of my old piercing back in. Three in my left ear, one in my right. One in my nose, and one on in my eyebrow. I ran my fingers through my Mohawk, and grinned. It felt good to be back.

The door opened and Trent and Dj walked in together. Trent had his guitar strapped to his back, and Dj was carrying a small amplifier.

"What's up man?" Trent asked casually walking past me.

"Not so much, getting ready for tonight…hey uh where'd get that amp?" I watched through the mirror's reflection. Dj placed the amp by the stairs of our bunk beds. And Trent rested his guitar against the wall toward the window.

"Oh, it was a sweet deal man," Trent starts. "I was playing in front of the music hall, just to have a place to play, and then one of the music instructors, Mr. Reigh comes out and he heard me playing."

"Yeah, and then he stated talking to Trent, and he ran back inside and grabbed this amp. Apparently, he had some sort of slightly busted, spare amp." Dj explains with a shrug before collapsing onto our couch.

"So how does it work?" I ask.

"Pretty good. I tried a few songs on it. I mean it doesn't sound as good with an acoustic than it would with an electric, but it's all good." Trent crosses his arms and leans against the wall.

"When are you guys changing?" I ask stepping away from the mirror.

"Changing for what?" Dj asks, peering his head up above the couch to view me.

"Oh, for Geoff's party? I hear it's suppose to be killer." Trent grins.

"Party? I didn't know about this." Dj says surprised.

"It starts at nine o'clock, in the library. Be sure to go in through the back door, it will be unlocked. Then take the elevator to the basement. Don't say a word to anyone." I warn him.

"Where do I go again?" Dj looks puzzled.

I sigh and look to Trent, who is only smirking a little. He got that from me.

"Just go with Trent." I say simply.

Dj nods and drops his head back onto the couch. I check the digital clock on Dj's night stand. I still got tons of time to kill and a few things to get done before I get down to the library.

"I'll see you guys down there." I walk out the door closing it behind me. I start down the hallway and go into the elevator, waiting for it to take me down a floor. When the door dings open, I'm surprised to see Gwen staring at me, her mouth slightly agape. I must have the same expression on my face, which prompts her eyes to open wide, and her hand reaches toward the close button.

I heard her hand slam the button three times, but I got in quicker than the door could shut. When the door full closed, I heard her grunt.

"What's the matter, babe? You're too good to share an elevator with me?" I say.

"No. And don't call me babe." She snapped.

She crossed her arms and I leaned against the wall. She clicked the bottom to go to the seventh floor, the highest floor. I watched as the numbers rolled up. Three…four…I pressed all of the buttons.

"Hey! What was that for, I don't exactly feel like spending time with you in the slowest elevator ever." She said angrily.

"Well, it's your lucky day. I was on my way to see you, and now you're here we can talk."

"Say whatever you want, I'm not talking." Se says stubbornly.

"Fine then." I reached over and punched the stop button. The elevator shook, and Gwen let out a scream. The elevator settled, and Gwen sunk to the floor.

"What did you do that for?" She shrieked.

"So this way I can talk and you have no choice but to listen to me!"

"Fine, but make it quick, Duncan. I'm claustrophobic." She mumbles.

I slide down to and stretch my legs out. Gwen has her knees up to her chest and she watches me.

"You talk, I'll listen." She says.

I sigh and start. "Fine, now that I have your attention I wanted you to know that everything that has happened within the last few weeks….it wasn't suppose to happen the way it did." I start.

She doesn't say anything. Oh yeah, I guess that's how the whole you-talk-I-listen thing works. It would be easier if she were to say something.

"If I knew you were going to kiss me, I would have never led you on like that." I say quietly, not making eye contact with her.

"I…I like Courtney. I mean, I don't know if you knew that-

"Wait, I thought you liked that new girl…Sierra? Isn't that Courtney's sister?" Gwen pipes up.

"Yeah she is, and no I don't. I mean she's hot or whatever, but it's not like I actually _liked_ her. Although, she so wanted me." I chuckled to myself.

Gwen angrily glared to me. Crap. Rule number one, don't talk about chicks that want you in front of chicks that use to want you.

"Anyway, that guy I was talking about the day you kissed me, that was-

"Trent. I know." She nods.

She exhales, and stretches her legs out. "I know that because he told me. A few days ago, actually."

"So how has it been going?" I ask.

"Good. Really good." She smiles a little. "I surprisingly like him."

"Why surprisingly?"

"Because I never expected myself to fall for a guy who plays the guitar," She chuckles lightly "What a cliché."

"Trent's a good guy." "I wish I realized that sooner." Gwen says. "So can we go now?" She begs.

I smirk, and stand up. I hit the button and the elevator gives another shake and resumes going up to the next floor.

"Thank gosh, we're moving." Gwen muttered standing up. The elevator stopped on floor five, and closed a few seconds later, with no one walking in.

"So you're going to the party tonight, right?" Gwen asks.

"Yeah, how did you know about that?" I say.

"Trent. And pretty much everyone on campus knows about it." She shrugs.

The elevator opens at floor six, and closes a few seconds later.

"Yeah, I'm going soon to help Geoff out early. I actually left early so I could come find you. Luckily, I didn't have to."

The elevator opens to floor seven, and Gwen steps out.

"Well, this is me. Thanks for talking to me Duncan. Even though I really wanted to slice your guts in half. See you tonight." She adds a bright smile at the end as the elevator door open, with me chuckling as it took me to the first floor all the way down.

When I make it to the library basement, Geoff was already down there with Bridgette adding the finishing touches. Bridgette sat on top of a table, with her legs crossed and a disapproving look on her face.

"Sup Bro!" Geoff cheered, placing two giant crates down on the ground, beside the giant stereo he had. Geoff and I exchanged our handshake and Bridgette hopped down from the table.

"Geoff, what's in the crate?" She asks sounding worried.

"Chill, babe. Just a few bottles of Corona." He says simply.

"Corona? As in the _alcohol_?" She shrieks. Geoff stares at her blankly, this is perfectly normal for us anyway.

"Geoff! You can't have this on campus! Where did you even get it?" Bridgette starts shouting. She opened the crates, and looked at all of the alcohol and beer Geoff had stacked in there.

"I know a guy." He shrugs. I chuckle, and we exchange handshakes again.

"Oh my God, Geoff. I'm going to kill you!" Bridgette shouts, walking toward Geoff her hands ready to choke his next.

"Hang on, Malibu." I say stepping between them. "It's not that big of a deal, just _chill_. No one is going to be drunk, there are suppose to be a lot of people coming, therefore unless you get drunk after one drink, no one is leaving here intoxicated."

Bridgette sighed, and put her hand on her forehead. "Fine." She mumbled dropping her hands.

An hour and a half later the party was finally pumping. There was a lighting globe set in the center of the library, flashing different colors all around. We place circular different colored shag rugs all around the basement, above the hard cold floor. Bridgette sprayed the basement with a lavender/vanilla spray to cover up that wet dog, mold scent, and Geoff created a mix CD with over sixty songs.

Everyone seemed to be breaking out and having a good time. Having a few drinks, dancing, laughing. A lot more people came than I expected which was pretty surprising. We were already running low on drinks, and I really wish Geoff could have gotten a keg.

I found Gwen standing against the wall holding a red plastic cup, with her foot against the wall. I make my way over to her. She watches me lean against the wall with her.

"Loner." I say.

"_Goth_." She corrects.

I chuckle, and she takes a sip from her cup. "Need a refill?" I ask her.

"No thanks, I have plenty of water."

"Water?" I raise my eyebrow.

"I don't do the whole alcohol teen partying cliché." She shrugs.

I nod my head and watch the party unfold. Geoff was standing on a table with his opened pink button down shirt, and in his boxers. Bridgette was laughing so hard, _alcohol _was coming out of her nose.

Everyone else seemed to be having fun. I already had two drinks, and I let it all settle in, but it doesn't seem to be having the same affect as usual.

"So where's Trent?" I ask her.

"Don't know." She shrugs. "Maybe he isn't here yet."

"Maybe." I say.

All of a sudden I spot Courtney in the crowd. She was laughing about something, and actually looked…normal. Not uptight or angry like she usually is. And is she holding a drink? Damn, Princess _might_ actually know how to party.

I stared at her, my mouth slightly agape which prompted Gwen to say, "So what are you doing over here?"

"What?" I say.

"Go get her." Gwen playfully punches me in the arm.

"Uh…" I drawl for a second.

"I'm fine, I think I see Trent anyway." Gwen bounces off the wall and goes into the sea of party people, while I still stare at Princess.

What is wrong with me? It's like…suddenly I can't even move. My heart feels like it's about to pound out of my chest, and suddenly my palms are all clammy and I'm kind of sweaty.

I recognized the dress Courtney was wearing. It was the black one she picked out when the four of us went out that first week on campus. It looks hot. A little too dressy, but it works.

I start walking through the huge crowd, making my way over to her. She spots me and grins. Then she starts walking? Stumbling? Toward me. Princess trips, and her arms fall onto my shoulder, I bring her up and she moves her hands onto my shoulder.

She starts giggling and I can smell the alcohol on her breath.

"Hi there." She says.

"Princess! Hey." I grin, and she stands up straight.

She starts giggling again, "I like it when you call me that."

"Since when?" I say.

"Since always." She starts tracing her index finger over my chest in a circle pattern. I gulp watching her finger.

"Wanna dance?" She asks. Before I can respond, she took my hand and started pulling me into the crowd and a loud pop sound came through the stereo. Courtney let out a cheer and started dancing and moving around.

I started chuckling and dancing with her. But, something is off. She is so much more loose than usual. Even if she did have one or two drinks that wouldn't make her like this. And there is no way that she drank more than two, we don't have enough for everyone to have more than one. We ran out of alcohol like a half hour ago. I didn't even see Courtney arrive, so who knows what happened.

"How many drinks did you have?" I ask her, pulling on her wrist and keeping her close to me.

"W-what?" She giggles some more, and pushes her hair out of her eyes.

I sigh, this is going to be a long night. I can't just let her dance around half drunk. Who knows what kind of creep take advantage of here. I spin my head around analyzing the room for any potential creeps.

I figure this would take too long and turn back to Courtney.

"How many drinks have you had." I say into her ear.

She starts laughing this time. "What is it this time?" I groan.

"Your breath is all hot in my ear." Her giggling calms down. "I had like one d-drink…and then another." She slurred, and giggled some more.

I roll my eyes, and grab her by her wrist and start tugging her out of the crowd. She stumbles as I drag her away. I find Geoff calm down, collapsed in a chair, with his pants on.

"Dude, I gotta jet." I say to him.

"What's that bro?" Then he glances at Courtney. "Oh, ho, ho, I gotcha. Catch ya later." Geoff hoots.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, I wish." I mumble. Courtney waves to Geoff on her way to the elevator with me.

We stood in front of the elevator, I hit the button with my thumb and wait for the door to open.

"I think I'm d-d-drunk?" She giggles again. She says it like a question, but it's definitely a statement.

"You had like two bottles of beer, how are you ever remotely tipsy?" I roll my eyes.

"I'm not t-t-tips-whatever! I'm drunk!" She slurred tiredly.

"Shut up." I mumble, pulling her by the wrist into the elevator. She immediately clings to me.

"Court, get off." I say quietly, removing her arms from my neck.

"No!" She responds stubbornly.

The elevator door shut, and Courtney attached her lips to mine. She pinned me against the wall in the elevator, and moved her lips against mine.

Must. Not. Take. Advantage. Of. Princess.

Who the hell am I kidding?

I kissed her back with just as much forced, and wrapped my arms around her body. I could hear her giggling like crazy. Then I heard the most depressing sound ever. The 'ding' of the elevator door opening.

_Damn it_.

"Walk me to my room." Courtney says swaying side to side out of the elevator.

I quicken my pace and rush over to her. I hold her by her arm to keep her steady.

We walk out of the back of the library and walk across campus to my dorm.

"Let go." She mumbles tiredly, but doesn't do anything about me holding her arm. I lead her into my hall, and to my room seeing as we're in my dorm. She's drunk. She's so drunk that she didn't ever realize where she was. _Light weight_. I open the door for my room and she stumbles inside.

There's no way I can take her back to her room. Her psycho roommate Eva would kill her with all of the giggling, and Sierra would kill her for coming back to the room drunk. Then Sierra would kill me, just for existing.

Courtney collapses onto my bunk and her laughter dies down. I walk into the room and close the door behind me.

"My head is p-p-pounding." She grumbled.

"Yeah, I know." I say plopping on the couch, staring at her.

"You're so..so..ugh!" She sounds like she wants to shout but I think she's too tired to.

"I'm so what?" I ask amused.

"You're so…STUPID! Yeah!" She shouts. "Ow." She mumbles shortly after.

"Oh yeah?" I raise my eyebrow. "Why am I so stupid?"

"Beecauusez!" She whined. I think she meant to say 'because' but at this point I can't be sure. "You won't kiss me!" She whines some more, and starts flailing her arm everywhere, trying to point to me.

"Let's not get into this." I say, secretly wanting to.

"No! You _love_ me! I kiss you! You leave!" She grunts.

"Love? Ha, I don't love you. You're drunk, remember?"

"No, I think yew do!" She hiccups.

"Okay, seriously? Get some rest." I get up from the couch and go into my draws looking for my undershirt and a pair of sweatpants to sleep in.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She huffs, crawling under the covers, and kicking off her heels. They fall onto the floor, and she crosses her arms.

I go into the bathroom and change my clothes. I take out my earrings, and run my hands through my Mohawk, then splash some water onto my face. I wipe my face with a towel and walk back out into the room.

Courtney is still awake, playing with her fingers, humming under her breath. I go into the closet, and grabbed a blanket and a pillow and threw them onto the couch.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"Getting ready to sleep?" I respond.

"Why?"

"Because you're drunk, and obviously can't take care of yourself. And since I would prefer it if you weren't raped or molested, you're staying in here tonight."She gasps, "That would _not_ have h-happened!" She hiccups again.

I roll my eyes, and collapse onto the couch.

"You don't get out enough, obviously." I say referring to the fact that she's practically wasted after two drinks. "Besides where I'm from it happens. A lot." I add.

"That's _so _disgusting." She says, a hiccup chiming in.

"I'm tired." She yawns.

"Me too." I add, walking over to Courtney, and shutting the light off from her night stand. The room floods with darkness, and I walk back over to the couch and wait for myself to fall asleep.

"Duncan?" Courtney whispers.

"Yeah, princess?" "Do you like me?" _What?_ "What do you mean do I like you?"

She sighs, "I don't know…a lot of people don't." She mumbles.

"I wonder why." I say sarcastically.

"Me too." she says. "Wait, what is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing, I'll let you know tomorrow, Princess." I leave it at that.

After a little while, when I'm sure she is asleep I take a look out the window and wonder what time the guys will be coming back. I take a glance at the digital clock. It's only midnight. Probably not until later.

Hopefully they all have enough sense not to collapse in the library. But, at the same time I want it to be only me and Courtney in here.

"Yeah Courtney." I quietly to myself. "I do like you."

All I hear is silence. Or all that I don't hear. Before I go into my confusing thoughts I add out loud, "But, tomorrow you're so dead."

**_Saturday Courtney's P.O.V._**

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I was NOT in my own bed. No wait, it was that I was NOT in my pajamas. No wait, it was the MAJOR headache throbbing against my head. I sat up straight, and gasped. My mouth and throat is seriously dry. I need water, or orange juice, something! I looked down to see myself still wearing my black dress from the party last night. Didn't I change my clothes before going to bed? Wait… this isn't my bed. My sheets are purple, not blue. I look around. Everything was still in the right place.

Same couch….same television…same two recliners…WAIT. A guitar case? That's new. I pushed the covers off my me and climbed out of bed and walked to the full length mirror next to the bathroom door.

My hair is a mess. It's all matted against the back, and tangled. I usually brush my hair before going to bed so I can avoid this type of disaster. Where is Eva? And Bridgette? And Sierra? Sierra should be here. It isn't like she has classes, and it's Saturday. Maybe she's getting breakfast.

I hear the sound of a toilet flushing, and my stomach immediately begins to unsettle, and it feels like I'm about to vomit. My stomach is churning, my breath is hot and it reeks. My throat is still dry, my eyes are weary. I want to collapse. My head is still pounding, and I reach for the bathroom door, but it opens for me.

I see Duncan. Then I vomit.

"I am _so_ sorry." I say for the five thousandth time. I'm on the floor, cleaning my vomit stain out of the carpet. It's really hard, because there isn't much bleach here to work with, and some of the vomit is stuck between the tile of the bathroom floor, and it's overall nasty. Plus it's especially unsettling that Duncan is here to watch this. What happened to me?

"Yeah, yeah Princess. I know." He says from the couch, watching TV. The sounds from the music video he's watching grinds of my nerves, and on the headache that's still throbbing.

"Can you lower that?" I snap, and he snickers. He lowers the TV to my request.

I spritz the bleach onto the carpet again, and continue wiping out the stain. I scrub the sponge against the tile floor repeatedly, while wiping down the carpet with my other hand.

Duncan is so selfish. If he had a caring bone in his body he would care that I have a major headache, that I feel like complete, and utter _shit_, and he would help me. No matter how disgusting this is. But, the vomit is gone, it's just the stain and the stink that remains. Oh, and he would give me an explanation as to what happened last night.

"Are you going to tell me?" I say aloud, sitting on my knees, examining the floor to see if the stain is gone. It is. Success.

"Tell you…what? About the weather, sports report….global warming?" Duncan shuts the TV off, and turns around to grin at me.

"No. You know what I'm talking about. I have a headache, so while I look for some aspirin in your bathroom, start talking! What happened last night?" I got up from the ground, and picked up the sponge and the cloth. I tossed the cloth in the hamper, and started rinsing the sponge repeatedly to make sure it was one hundred percent clean.

"Last night…you were at the party, I guess. You drank like two beers, and got practically wasted." he says.

I gasp, and turn on the running water so he can't hear me panicking.

"What else?" I call out. Now I'm looking through the cabinets for Tylenol or something to help my headache. I find a comb and a black elastic, and start combing out my hair.

"So after a half hour of you being an idiot, I decided it was best to bring you back to my room."

"You thought it was best to bring me _here_?" I laugh in disbelief.

"What was that?" He calls out.

I sigh, and tie my hair back with the elastic. I splash some water on my face a few times before shutting the water off. I dry my face, and grab the bottle of Tylenol and walk out of the bathroom.

"I said you thought it was best to bring me here?"

"Uh, chyeah." He says adding a 'ch' sound for emphasis, I roll my eyes, and go over to the mini fridge in their room and grab a mini-water bottle. "Do you think your sister would think it's perfectly acceptable to see you _drunk_?" He shoots. I open the Tylenol bottle and drop two white pills into my hand.

"Did you think Eva _wasn't_ going to kill you from all of the giggling and hiccuping you were doing last night?" He continues. I open the water bottle and take the two pills at once, followed by the splashes of water chasing the pills down my throat.

"I kind of didn't have a choice, Court." He says getting off the couch. He takes the pill bottle of my hand and goes into the bathroom.

"I wasn't going to overdose, you know." I roll my eyes, and drink some more water.

"I'm not so sure, after last night." He says.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." I snap.

I take a seat on the couch, and put my hands on my temples and try to soothe my headache. My throat feels less dry now that I drank some water, and my eyes don't feel so puffy. But, is my head suppose to hurt this bad? I've never drank before. Maybe I have some kind of scary-special-alcohol case where I can't drink at all. Then I'll get these major headaches, and then my brain implodes. But, this isn't likely.

I sigh, and slouch.

Duncan sits beside me, and grins at me.

"Stop doing that." I grunt.

"So do you remember anything from last night?" He asks.

"Evidentially, no."

"Nothing? Nothing _at all_?"

"No, Duncan I said I didn't-

My eyes widened, and I dropped my hands to stare at Duncan. I'm such an idiot. I'm such a _creep_. I'm a creepy idiot! I'm like a psycho stalker, who threw herself all over Duncan last night because she was drunk. Oh my God. He is never going to let me live this down.

"That's what I thought." He smirks.

"I'm such an idiot." I say in disbelief.

"Well…" His voice trails off.

"Oh my God, I threw myself all over you. That's disgusting, you must think I'm a freak." I jump up from the couch and look under his bunk for my heels. I grab one of them, and start looking for the other.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"Looking for my other shoe so I can leave! I've already humiliated myself enough in front of you." My other shoe isn't under his bed, so I crawl to the nightstand.

"Look, Courtney. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I don't think what happened last night was all that bad." I find my shoe, and pull it out from under the night stand.

I climb onto Duncan's bed, and start pulling on my shoes. "Really?" I ask, looking into his eyes.

He nods his head, and sits next to me on his bed.

"Really. We all lose it. Some more than others." He chuckles and I roll my eyes. "So what happened, what made you drink?

Before I respond, more memories come spilling into my mind. I think about how when I walked in there were like three guys surrounding me, who already had a drink or two. Their breath stunk, they even kind of smelt like cigarettes. They wouldn't let me get away from them. They kind of made me drink.

They kept forcing it in my face, and pushing it onto me. I don't fall under peer pressure, but what started out as an attempt to get these creeps to leave me alone, turned into a disaster. Their hideous faces burn into my memory. Joel, Aaron, and Devon. All three of them are in my math class.

I've never spoken to either of them before last night. But, for some reason they wouldn't leave me alone. I remember trying to turn around to get away from them, but one of them grabbed me by my wrist, which really hurt.

I glance at my wrist, it was fine. No scratches or bruises. I take a breath, and close my eyes.

"Courtney. What's the matter?" Duncan asks quietly.

It hurts to remember last night.

"Nothing. Nothing." I whisper while shaking my head. "I-I'm fine. I just want to go back to my room…and shower and forget this." I gulp, and look at Duncan.

He is staring at me intently, kind of leaning toward me. He was only wearing a white muscle shirt, and a pair of jeans, with his red sneakers on and his Mohawk looking as it usually did. Green and…vertical.

"You know…you can," He starts saying quietly to me. "Um, you can…tell me _anything_."

I faced Duncan, and he was closer to me than he was before. I could feel my breath escaping me as he leaned closer…and closer…and he was kissing me. Like really kissing me. So much better than our first kiss, or even that last kiss we had last night in the elevator, and I was drunk or whatever.

It was like everything I've been feeling these last few weeks have been let out into this one amazing kiss. He moved his hand onto my cheek, and pulled me in closer. He finally let me go, and we just stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

But, that was the best kiss I have ever had. And my heart can't stop pounding.

"That was…really good." Duncan broke out into a smile.

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement. "It was."

**Soooo, what do ya think, huh ;) I hope you all liked it, have a beautiful week! I can't believe it's almost August! :O Btw, do any of you guys like BIG TIME RUSH? I love that show. Is it weird that I'm 16 & I like cartoons, Justin Bieber, and BTR? LOL Oh well, that's just again, for everything.  
**


	19. What's This Chapter About?

**So you guys totally hate me, because I forgot to update earlier but it's STILL MONDAY. I didn't miss my deadline ;) lmao. I was super busy today, so this chapter is probably sloppy and sort of crappish, but I will TOTALLY MAKE IT UP FOR YOU GUYS 3 Enjoy!**

_Duncan P.O.V. Saturday_

Shortly after Courtney left, I started picking up the room, so the guys wouldn't know she was here. Where are they anyway? They never came back after last night. I would go down to the library to see what's going on, but I'm sure it's cleared out by now, and if it wasn't I would have to stick around to clean. I am _not _doing that.

I made my bed, and spread out the sheet, and fix the bathroom up a little, then ran a hand through my Mohawk. I grab my cell phone off of the bathroom sink, and dial Trent's number. I listen to the dial tone, and shut off the bathroom light, and fall into one of the recliners.

"Hey Duncan." Trent greeted.

"Yo, uh dude. Where the hell are you and Deej?"

"Oh, we crashed in Geoff's room last night." He answers easily.

"Why?" I recline back in the chair.

"Well Deej and I saw you leave with Courtney," he paused to slip out a chuckle, I roll my eyes. _If he only knew_. "So we figured we just don't go back to the room last night." He finished.

"Yeah, I'm glad you didn't." I tell him.

"Sweet." he replies.

"No, that's definitely not why." I grunt.

"Oh." He sounds puzzled.

"Long story, I'll explain later."

"Oh hey, wait hang on, here's Geoff, he wants to talk to you." Trent says, I envision him handing the phone over to an exhausted partied-out Geoff.

"Sup, bro?" He greets me.

"Not much," I reply with a sigh. "You?" "I need some help with-

"You didn't finish cleaning out the library last night?" I cut him off.

I take his silence as a no.

"Did anyone see anything?" I ask.

"Uh…I sure hope not." He says.

I groan, "Meet me in the back of the library in twenty minutes." I close my phone and get out of the chair. When I see Geoff I'm going to strangle him, then bring his sorry ass back to life to help me clean up his mess.

_Courtney's P.O.V. - Saturday_

I stood in front of my dorm room, and took a deep breath. _Okay, you can do this. _I coach myself. _Just walk in, and no one will say anything. _I reach for the door knob, and pull back. What am I stupid? Of course someone will say something! I didn't come back last night! I didn't have my cell phone on me, I could have been reported a missing person! Even though Sierra did know about the library party. I bite the inside of my cheek, and reach for the doorknob. I got to get inside eventually.

I open the door to my room, and step in. The first thing I see is Sierra's large suitcase on the ground, right beside the closet. It's pretty well packed with her clothes, hairdryer, make up, deodorant, perfume, and such. I hear draws opening and closing, and Sierra mumbling under her breath. I shut the door behind me, and walk more into my room.

She doesn't notice me at first, she closes the bottom draw and glances up.

"Courtney! There you are. Why are you in that dress?" She asks, walking past me with a bundle of socks and underwear in her hands.

"Uh…because I never changed?" I answer indifferently, watching Sierra stuff the socks in a small compartment of the suitcase.

"You didn't, why?" She looks up at me again, and goes back to her suit case. "Didn't you sleep at Bridgette's dorm last night?" She pauses and looks at me disappointedly. "Oh, Courtney, don't tell me you pulled an all-nighter." She makes a tsk noise with her tongue, and she shakes her head.

"An all-nighter? No, Sierra I was-" I pause and let what she said to me sink in. "I was in Bridgette's dorm, I just felt like putting this dress back on, yeah. And I left all my other stuff there. In fact, I'm going back to get it later." I lie smoothly.

"Oh, good." She smiles lightly, and starts folding her shirts in the suitcase.

"Sierra, what are you doing?" I ask, taking off my heels, and tossing them in the closet.

"Well, Court." She sighs, and stands up to face me.

I notice the slight height difference between us, four inches. I am exactly four inches shorter than Sierra. She pushes back her brown hair, and is falls back into place, and I can see her light freckles on her face, like the ones I have.

"I'm packing to go home. I'm leaving." She says.

"What? Why?" I demand to know.

It's ironic. I've been waiting for this moment to come, and now I find myself being kind of disappointed.

"I find that…what I'm looking for isn't here, at Abbott academy." She tells me. "I'm going back to Tenor Prep to finish my senior year, with my friends. Like I should have been doing in the beginning." She adds with a smile, and pushes her hair behind her ear.

"I'll miss you." I say, surprised by my words.

"I'll miss you too." She smiles to me. "Help me pack?"

I nod my head, "Sure one sec, let me go change in the bathroom." Sierra goes to the closest to grab her shoes, and start packing those in her suitcase. I walk over to my draw, and pull out my light blue and white plaid shirt, and the only other pair of blue jeans I brought here, and change quickly.

I pull my hair out of the elastic, and it fell back into it's normal light waved pattern my hair has. I look at myself in the mirror, happy with what I see. For once.

"Court, can you grab my pillowcase?" Sierra calls, knelt down by her suitcase, opening another compartment, stuffing in all of her accessories.

I take three strides to the couch, and shake the pillow free of Sierra's dark blue pillow case, and toss it over to her.

"Thanks." She says, catching it.

"So when are you leaving?" I ask, sitting on the arm of the couch, with my arms crossed.

"Around five tonight, the train leaves at six thirty. Dad paid for my trip back." She tells me.

I spot Sierra's cell phone charger, and get up to unplug it from one of the outlets. I wrap the chord around the black bulky charger slowly.

"Are you happy to be going home? You probably missed mom and dad a little." I say.

"Yeah, I guess I did miss them." She says.

I walk over to Sierra, who was now closing one of the compartments in her suitcase. I handed her the cell phone charger, and she smiled gratefully. She packs the cell phone charger in, and puts her hands on her sides, and stands up.

"I think that's it." She says.

I stand beside her, and examine her fully packed suitcase, and then I overlook what I can see of our room to scan for anymore of Sierra's items.

"I guess so." I agree with a light shrug.

Sierra drops her hands and turns her head to look at me, "Courtney, thanks." She says softly.

"You're welcome, but I hardly did anything."

"No, not for packing. But, for putting up with me."I soften my express, and face my sister. "What do you mean?" I ask quietly.

"I know I'm not the easiest sister to live with, I'm always doing something, and not quitting until it's perfect. Mom and dad always put the spotlight on me to see what award I've been given this time, and I don't share the spotlight enough." She says.

"Sierra, I don't think you understand," I cut her off.

She has a puzzled expression, and waits for me to say something more.

"I've never been bothered by any of the attention mom and dad have given you. I mean at first I thought that was it…but, it's me. It's not their fault, you're always working hard and you deserve to have all of the praise you deserve. I'm the one who has been better, and I guess I sort of let my own jealousy get in the way."

I've never been this vulnerable before, now I'm waiting for Sierra to pounce on me, and start laughing at me. Laughing on her way out the door…laughing on the train…just laughing. I grimace, and look at my sister.

Unexpectedly, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Can…barely….breathe-SIERRA!" I cried, trying to spit the words out through the hug. She let go of the hug, and grinned from ear to ear.

"Courtney, that is the nicest thing you've ever said to…anyone!" She adds with a laugh at the end. I, myself did not have the same sense of humor as Sierra. But, I did let a weak smile slide out.

"I'll miss you." She says. "Let's hang for our time remaining." She suggests.

"Definitely," I agree. "Let's go grab a bite to eat…I'm suddenly _starving_."

_Duncan P.O.V_

Two hours later Geoff, Dj, Trent, and I finally finished cleaning up the library basement. Geoff hasn't talked to Bridgette at all today, and she's been off work for about fifteen minutes, and he's already getting pretty anxious as to hear if anyone knows anything.

"Dude, it's been like…twenty minutes! She hasn't called me yet. She said she would as soon as she gets off work!" Geoff says for like, the fiftieth time. "What if like, someone is talking to her upstairs now!" Geoff suddenly panics.

I take the black garbage bag from Geoff's hands, and drop a handful of napkins, plastic cups, and paper plates. Geoff looks at his fingernails, considering to bite them, I figure.

Dj takes the black bag from me, and ties it up. The floor is spotless, the rugs we added were gone, there was no lingering smell of alcohol, teenagers, or anything else. Its old moldy smell was back, and the room was as empty as usual.

"Dude, I'm sure she's fine. Besides no one would question Bridgette, especially right away. All she does is put books away after they've been returned, they wouldn't expect her to know anything." I reassure.

"As long as you're sure, bro." Geoff says uneasily.

I clap a hand on his shoulder and grin. "I'm sure. Now let's get out of here before anyone finds us." I turn to see Dj and Trent already walking out by the backdoor, Trent with the garbage bag hauled over his shoulder, Dj holding the door open.

Geoff grimly nodded, and followed me out shutting the door gently, and quietly behind us. Trent threw the large garbage bag into the nearby green dumpster, along with the other three we threw into it earlier.

"Okay, now what?" Dj asks.

The four of us started walking across the field of grass that was slowly fading from its natural green color, to the nasty yellow color for the upcoming winter season. We start walking up the hill, steering us clear of the back of the library, as if we were never there.

"I guess that's it." Trent shrugs. "Unless you guys have something in mind."Geoff and I exchange looks. Geoff tips the cowboy hat he has perched on his head. It's his favorite hat, he calls it his 'partying hat'. Apparently his brothers declared it the partying hat when their so-called partying throne gets passed down.

"I think I want to go check on Bridgette." Geoff says.

"I'll come with, if you want." I shrug.

"You sure dude?" Geoff asks.

"Yeah, are you sure, I mean no offense but you two walking into a library together? Something is gonna look off." Dj says.

I scoff, "Dude, it's not like we're gonna be _reading_. We can just see if Bridgette's there. If she isn't then you can give her a call and work things out. It's no big deal." I explain to the guys.

"Well, I'll see you back at the dorm. I need to catch up on some serious sleep." Trent says, adding a huge yawn at the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, I'm going back to the room too, let me know how things go." Dj says, falling in step with Trent walking in the direction of our dorm.

Geoff and I walked around to the building to get to the front of the library. He swings the door open, and almost hits me in the face with it. I grunt as I catch it and continue following him inside. The guy must be so nervous, he can't even remember I'm following behind him at a close distance.

He walks to the front desk, faced with one of the young, _attractive_, female secretaries. Her short blonde hair fell at her shoulders, as she looked down, stamping the inside of books.

Geoff cleared his throat, and she looked up to us, and placed on a smile.

"How may I help you young gentlemen?" She asks. So, she's gotta be like, twenty-seven, addressing us as_ young gentlemen_. Got me fooled, she looks like she's twenty. I snap out of thoughts, when Geoff says, "Uh yeah, is Bridgette still working?"

"Bridgette?" She raises her left eyebrow.

"Yeah, Bridgette Geller." Geoff clarifies, "About five-five, blonde hair, hot?" Geoff describes.

It takes blondie time to let the information sink in, before she snaps her fingers and says, "Oh! Yes, she's still here. She was suppose to clock out like, twenty minutes ago. She's in the conference room." The blonde turns around, and points to the door right behind her.

"W-why is she in there?" Geoff asks.

"Our librarian, Denise Michaels, wanted to have a word with her. Not sure why."

"Can we wait here?" I ask, watching the panic on Geoff's face spread.

"Go ahead." She directs us to the three red chairs sitting on the side wall, next to some kind of tall and green fake plant. Geoff plots down, and crosses his legs. I can tell he's nervous. Personally, I don't think he has anything to freak out about. Bridgette is fine, I'm sure she always is. She's like one of those girls who never get in trouble, who never fail a test, who are never stressed. Also known as, the complete opposite as guys like me.

The door opened, and Geoff jumped forward when he saw Bridgette close the door behind her. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jean jacket, and started walking out from behind the desk.

She started talking to the blonde chick from behind the counter, in low voices so I couldn't hear anything either of them was saying. Geoff was standing up, and started approaching Bridgette. Bridgette and the other girl stopped talking, and looked to Geoff.

Geoff draped his arm over Bridgette's slumped shoulders, and started saying something to her. She gave a weak smile to Geoff, and a small wave to the girl behind the counter. Geoff and Bridgette started walking out, and I got up and fell into step with them quickly.

"So, uh what's going on, Bridgette?" I ask her.

Her hair was falling loose out of the usual tight ponytail she has it wrapped up in. And instead of wearing the school uniform, or her blue sweatshirt she was wearing a blue and white plaid shirt, with a jean jacket on over it, and long skinny jeans. With her California flip flops attached to her feet.

"Well, I lost my job at the library." She announces with a sad sigh.

"Crap," I wince. "What happened?"

Geoff scratched his arm, "Well, apparently someone working at the library, or just someone at the library, overheard someone talking about the party, and I guess they connected it to Bridgette and then told Denise."

"No shit?" My eyes widened. Who the hell would rat on Bridgette? She hasn't made any enemies, and it isn't like we did anything bad. Okay, yeah we did, we partied and drank, but everyone was having a _great time_.

"No shit." Bridgette confirms quietly.

I stare at Bridgette's profile, she had her head down and Geoff kept his arm around her. Almost like having his arm around her is protecting her from everyone and everything in the world, even though it can't. It's still nice to try.

_Here we go, I'm getting soft. _

"You know what? We'll find out who did it, Malibu." I say.

She picks her head up and looks at me, "Really, you don't have to."

"I want to." I grin. "Can't wait to see whose ass I'm kicking, eh Geoff?" Geoff chuckles along with me.

"Dude, if Bridgette says it's okay, then I can't wait." He smirks.

Bridgette giggles. "Thanks guys, seriously. But, it's okay. You don't have to. I mean I appreciate it, but I'm not one for drama. We can just drop it." She says.

I roll my eyes, "Whatever you say, Malibu."She giggles again. "Thanks Duncan, and you too Geoff." She says.

"For what, babe?" Geoff asks her.

"For…being here. I mean, granted you guys kind of are the reason this happened…"

"Don't go there." I say.

"Okay, okay. But, I don't mind. I believe everything happens for a reason, and besides I hated working at the library anyway. Way too boring." She rolls her eyes.

"Besides, it's not like you need a job. We go to boarding school, and never leave campus." I point out.

"Right, so it's for the best. Besides putting in extra time at the library was exhausting, and I never had enough time to see my boyfriend!" She says, and pulls Geoff toward her by the chin, and then they start making out. Right in front of me. _They're gonna be a while._

I watched them for a second, then snorted while walking away. I dug my red converse into the ground as I walked. I was walking back to my dorm, while on my way I stopped and saw something in the on-campus café window. Or someone. Two someones.

It was Sierra and Courtney. Both girls looking civil, and happy. Calm too. Sitting together across from one another at a table, on high stools for seats. Sierra's back was facing the window, but I could see Courtney perfectly.

Her pink lips were smiling and she played with the straw in her iced-tea. She started laughing a little bit about something, and Sierra was talking with animated hand motions, her hair tied in a loose braid.

For a second, I thought I saw Princess look at me. I replayed this morning in my head, and smiled to myself. Looking down, I scuffed my feet into the ground. Does she want to be together? We never really made anything clear. I look back up, and again for another second I saw Courtney staring at me.

But, only for a second.

**I LOVE YOU GUYS *HUGS HUGS HUGS* Sorry for this crappy chapter. Definitely making it up for you guys next week!**

**Bye skies!**

**- Johnna  
**


	20. Exams!

**Hi everyone! Alright, this chapter is one of my shortest ones, but I am definitely updating again this week! I started the next chapter already, so I hope no one is disappointed by the length of this chapter =/ I hope you all had a nice week, the Summer is coming to a close(well i go back to school at the beginning of September, but still) I hope you all enjoy the remaining of your summer, stay up, sleep in, have fun! Thanks again for reviewing and reading with each update, it's so supportive and amazing! I love you guys! New TDWT tonight, and happy VJ Day, hope you all enjoy the holiday!**

_Saturday night_

I'm bored, alone, and sitting on my couch with a green plastic bowl of cheese-doodles in my lap. With a bottle of pop next to me, with _Family Guy_ reruns flashing on the TV screen. Basically, I look like a slob-like loser girlfriend-less with nothing better to do on a Saturday night. _It isn't like I can do anything while being trapped on campus._

There were three consecutive knocks on the door. I let out a loud belch, and mute the TV. Pushing my snacks aside, I wipe down my black t-shirt and walk to the door. It's probably Dj, man is always forgetting his key.

I swing the door open, and look up to see Courtney. With a playful smile on her lips, she sauntered into the room. Her walking forward, me walking backward. She dropped the green and black handbag she had on her left arm onto the ground, beside the closet door. _Cool colors._

"So," She begins, and wraps her arms around my neck. We stop walking, we stop talking, we stop everything. The only thing that moves is the animated colors flashing in the background .

"So?" I break the silence.

Courtney let another smile slide, her perfect white teeth gleaming. I stare into her dark, dark eyes. Darker than brown, lighter than black. Black eyes would be _sick_. I wonder if there is such a thing. I look at Courtney's eyes again.

Courtney kisses me, and she backs me up against the couch. I feel her smiling into the kiss, and I kiss her back with more emotion then I ever had before. And this felt _right_. It felt like, like I don't know. Like two puzzle pieces clicking together, as if they're just right, like _everything is going to be all right_.

She pulls back, and drags her hands down the side of my arms. She wraps her fingers in between mine, and rubs her thumb against the back of my hand, which feels pretty good.

"I missed you today." She tells me.

I let a small smile make its way out, "Really, well I missed you too, babe."

"I have news." She says.

I slip my fingers away from hers, and there was a weird twinge in my stomach when I released our hands. I walked over to the couch, and sat down while shutting the television off.

"Do you want to hear it?" her voice asks, taking steps around the couch and sits down next to me. She tugged on the sleeves of her thermal gray long-sleeved shirt. I looked down at her long dark blue jeans, the ones she rarely wore, and the brown clogs she almost always wore.

"Let's hear it, Princess."

"Well, this morning I was lucky enough to _not_ have to play a game of third-degree-burns, or twenty questions with Sierra." She starts.

"Really? That's not like her." I chuckle. "Why not?"

Courtney slipped off her shoes, and crossed her legs on the couch. She switched her position and turned to look at me. I mirrored her position so we could face each other. I ran a finger through my Mohawk, while Princess kept looking at me without answering.

"Hello?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Hi." She smiles again.

I snort, "And…?"

"Oh yeah, okay…I'm sorry. I don't what's going on with me. I'm just happy, I guess." Courtney says to me.

"Me too," I tell her. "And then what happened with Sierra?"

"Sierra is leaving." She says.

I keep staring at her. Leaving, as in going to a different dorm and settling in to actually _stay_ here.

"She's _leaving_." Courtney says again, this time a little slower.

I keep staring at her.

"Hello! Duncan, did you not hear me? She's leaving, finally!" Courtney says with more enthusiasm.

"Wait, for real?" This could explain Princess's good mood.

"Yes, for real! But, that's not why I'm so happy, I mean it definitely helps, but I'm happy because we finally ended on a good note." she rambles on.

"That's great to hear. Why is she going?"

Courtney started stretched her legs out, with her feet in my lap, and her left arm falling off the couch, her right one placed over her torso.

"She feels like it's her time to go."

"That will definitely make things less awkward for us." I mumble.

"Yeah, I guess." Courtney says, I didn't expect her to hear that.

I stretch my legs out from underneath her. Her legs were piled onto of mine, and I saw her peek a smile out.

"And now…we can be…together." Courtney says slowly, sitting up and crawling on top of me. She rests on top of me, her ear against my chest. I can feel her chest inhaling and exhaling.

"I like the sound of that." I say.

We stay there like that for a little while. I'm not sure how much time passes, it's quiet and the only sounds we hear are the little whirring sounds coming from the TV box. Courtney traced her fingers on the palm of my hand countless times. It gave me chills each time she did so, but I didn't tell her that.

"Crap." She moans, sitting up, now she was sitting on top of me, another position I still enjoyed.

"What is it?" I scratch my forehead.

"I gotta go, Duncan. It's almost nine o'clock." She has regret in her voice, and annoyance. She got off of me, and straightened out her shirt.

"W-why?" I ask getting off the couch.

She grunts, and starts walking toward the door to pick up her purse.

"Because, I'm suppose to start cramming for exams like…yesterday!" She sounds all panicky now. It's like one minute she's this amazing, relaxed girl, and the next she's this uptight chick who I get hives around.

"Exams? Whoa, whoa, exams are like…at the end of December, before we take our holiday break. It's only November ninetieth. Exams are a month away!" I tell her, putting my hands on her shoulders, getting her to calm down and look at me.

"Exactly! _One month_, that's barely enough time for me to get prepared for all of my classes! I have to dig up everything we learned from the first semester, and then make study guides, and I have a lot of high-lighting to do!" She pushes my hands away, and tries to walk around me.

Once again, I wrap my arm around her waist, and pull her back to me.

"Babe, just calm down. None of my teachers have even mentioned exams once, and they're going to tell us all we need to know." I mumble into her ear.

"Says the slacker."

"Touché."

Courtney sighs, and pulls herself away from me. She pushes some of her hair behind her ears, and looks at me.

"You could probably use a lot of help on your exams, you know." She crosses her arms, and smirks at me.

"Whoa, I know what you're thinking. No way, no way, goodbye." I walk past Courtney, and hold the door open for her.

She giggles, and her smirk turns into a smile. "I can tutor you!" She says, excitement brimming in her voice.

I roll my eyes, "Goodbye, Princess." I say again.

"And this way, as I tutor you, I'll also be retaining information! Did you know ninety-percent of the information you retain is information you taught to others? It's perfect! We can start Monday." Courtney gives me a peck on the lips, and swings her purse up her arm, and starts out the door.

_What have I gotten myself into?_

**_Monday afternoon_**

Things have been going pretty smoothly. Classes have been slowing down, teachers have been giving us immense amounts of notes and study sheets, but the homework has been little. Each class I had with Courtney today she was hell bent on writing out a study schedule for us in the library, or a study schedule for me when I'm in the dorm room.

I tried to stifle my laughter. Like I'm going to actually study, on my own no less. Instead of arguing with Courtney, like I usually enjoy, I just nodded my head and yes'd her to death. Which still, even if she fought to show it, irritated her. It was a win/win.

Courtney made me swear I would show up after our classes in the café to 'study' which, if things go according to plan, meant just hanging out and not studying or talking about anything school related.

After our last class of the day, Gym, I went back to my room and switched up my clothes before going back out. I can't stay in my uniform for too long or I start to get itchy. Seriously, it's like these khaki pants are made with some kind of scratchy powder, it drives me crazy during the afternoon.

It took me twenty minutes to reach the café, after misplacing my chemistry binder and searching everywhere for my cell phone. I swung open the door to the café, and the bell on top of the door chimed with my entrance.

I spotted Courtney sitting in the back corner at one of the round tables, sitting on a high stool. She had a pencil case full of high-liters, pens, and of course pencils. She had two thick textbooks on the table with a large yellow mug filled with who knows what. Hopefully, the girl does decaf. She had a large notebook open in front of her and a yellow highlighter uncapped on the open page. As I approached the table, she tilted her head up and broke into a smile when she saw me.

I walked around Courtney, kissing her ear as she greeted me with a simple, "Hey, Duncan." I pulled the other tall stool over next to her and pulled myself onto it.

"How was your afternoon?" She asks casually while capping her highlighter.

I shrug, "Boring as hell. How about yours?"

"It was fine. Ms. Molina mentioned what our midterm exam was going to cover, well she mentioned some of it."

I have Ms. Molina for English too, usually the class that was before Courtney's. Except today she didn't say _anything _about our exam. Or, I could swear she didn't say anything…but I could also swear I fell asleep fifteen minutes into the class today.

"Oh, what did she say?" I shift uncomfortably, thinking about what in the world my slightly crazy English teacher could assign for my midterm exam. It's not that Ms. Molina is crazy, she just assigns us to the weirdest projects. The cool thing about her is she would rather have us write out a page of our honest thoughts, than a five paragraph essay on facts.

Courtney closes her notebook, "She told our class that she wanted a three to five paged paper on the book _The Odyssey_. But, I think you mentioned that your class was reading _The Scarlet Letter_, right?" Courtney furrows her brow for her thoughts, I think I did the same, "OH yeah, yeah, that weird book about the single girl and a baby, gotcha." I say nodding my head.

Courtney smile a little, "Uh, yeah. That's it. Anyway, Ms. Molina wanted a paper on the book, and then an additional page in your opinion in the story, and for you to personally relate yourself to one of the characters."

I think I winced a little. That's a lot of writing, especially since I can't relate to any characters from the seventeenth century, or something.

"I mean if you have any detailed questions I would go to Ms. Molina." Princess finishes.

I nod my head. "Okay, so let's get this studying thing started!" She said cheerfully.

"Do we got to?" I groan.

"Yes." Courtney pulls open my Chemistry binder, and cringed at the loose leaf pieces of paper filled with doodles, random sketching and inappropriate words and rhymes. It's some of my best work, really.

She shook her head in disapproval, and shoved the page in my face, "Duncan, what's this?"

I pushed it out of my face, "it's my…uh, notes. Yeah." I smirk.

Princess rolls her eyes, "That's disgusting." She pointed her index fingers to the random doodles, and sketchings, and inappropriate drawings on the page. "Perv." She muttered.

"You like it." I say.

She scoffs, "So not."

"Let's just get this started, before I change my mind." I say, taking one of her textbooks and opening it up to Chapter One.

**Yeah, told you it was short =/ Another update this week! Have a great week everyone, thanks again so much for all of the support!  
**

**peace and hug, Johnna :) **


	21. Someone Amazing

**So this update came really quick! This one is not a very long one either, but I like how this one turned out! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and thank you all again for the amazing reviews, and support! it's great that you all have my back on this writing thing! I'll update soon, most likely on Monday or Tuesday! have a great week everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the TD series, or the characters in any way  
**

_Courtney P.O.V._

Tutoring Duncan, no wait. _Trying_ to tutor Duncan, and prepare him for our upcoming exams was less than easy. It was probably one of the most difficult challenges I've come to since I have lived hereon campus. He absolutely detests learning, he is always looking around, he can not focus, and he kept sidetracking me!

Don't get me wrong, I did really like spending time with him, but I couldn't get anything done! All I got done for myself was an outline for our Western Civ. Exam, which isn't saying much. All I could do to help Duncan was help, well it doesn't matter, he didn't even _want _my help.

So now I'm trying to catch up on all lost study time. I have my purse swung over the shoulder of my right arm, and my brown suede bag containing my notebooks and one textbook over the other shoulder. I'm carrying my Western Civ. Textbook, trying read as much as I can.

As I walk down the hallway of my dorm, I felt a shoulder slam into mine. I tripped forward a little, and scoffed. I turn to see who was rude enough to brush into my shoulder, and then trip me.

I shouldn't be surprised when I see Heather was the one who rudely slammed into me. She scoffed, and tossed her long, thick, dark hair over her shoulder. She crossed her tiny arms over her chest, and glared at me through her brown eyes.

I spotted the gold charm bracelets on her wrist, and the sparkly long necklace that hung down. She is definitely one of the wealthiest students here on campus.

"Well?" She snapped at me.

I closed my textbook, and looked at Heather again. Her leather bag rested in her clutched hands.

"Well, what? _You_ slammed into me." I reminded her.

Heather rolled her eyes, "_So _not how it happened. I demand an apology. Now." She snapped her fingers at me, "Let's go. Come on."

Who does this girl even think she is? She's like, five foot two, weighs one hundred pounds, I could snap her in half if I gave her a hug. Which I would never do because I'm repulsed by her spoiled attitude.

She's in my math class, and she always, _always_, tries to copy off of me. So to put a stop to it, I put my arm over my test sheet so she can't see my answers. But, Heather started catching on to my plan, and she totally disses me whenever she has the chance.

"I don't think so Heather, get bent."

"Ooh, I'm so scared." Heather pauses for another eye roll. "Just because your new boyfriend is a criminal, doesn't mean I'm scared of you."

"Duncan, is not my boyfriend, get your facts straight. We're just, we're just-

"Just what? Hanging out? Hooking up? Nice. I never pegged you as the tramp type." Heather examined her nails as my anger grew inside of me.

"Listen up," I dropped my textbook and bags, and started walking closer to Heather. "I don't know who you think you are, but I am _not_ going to put up with your bull shit! I've been calm, I've consistently tried to ignore you, but when you bring Duncan into this, I will no longer take your crap." I narrowed my eyes to her.

I noticed Heather's jaw dropped, only a little, but I spotted it still. She rolled her eyes, and turned on her heel and began walking away. _Yeah, you walk away. _I smirked at my triumphant victory, and grabbed my stuff from off the floor. I continued walking down the hallway to find my room.

I pull my key out of my front pocket and slide it into the door. I push the door open, and tug the key out. I spot Bridgette up against the wall, upside down balancing her head on a pillow.

"Uh…hi?" I say closing the door.

"Hi Court! Don't mind me. I'm just meditating." She says cheerfully.

For a mediator I didn't know she could be so upbeat. I drop my book bag and my purse beside the door, and slide my shoes off. I place my shoes inside the closet, and look at Bridgette again.

"So how was the study date?" She asks.

"It was…nice." I say weakly.

"Nice? That's all?" I look at Bridgette again, who has her hands resting on the ground, while she used her upper body strength to keep her up. "Define nice." Bridgette says.

"It was nice spending time with Duncan." I close the closet door, and make my way over to the red couch. I turn to my side so I can still see Bridgette.

"But?" Bridgette waits. "There's always a but."

"_But_, he has the attention span of a rodent." I groan.

Bridgette laughs, and brings her legs down to stand up right. She walked over to me, and sat on the couch beside me.

"Head rush." She says, bringing her fingers to her temples. "Anyway, you like Duncan for Duncan, right?"

"Right." I agree hesitantly.

"So one little flaw, like short attention span, shouldn't be a problem."

I nod at the advice Bridgette gives me. I can't actually tell her that Duncan has like, a billion flaws. Even though they don't really seem to bother me, the more time I spend with him the less I notice them. It's like when I'm with him everything is just right, and it doesn't matter what's wrong or what's right.

But when it comes between me and my school work, we have a problem. I've been a straight A+ student since fourth grade, I always succeed, and I never settle for anything less. Apparently, Duncan does.

We 'studied' for two hours. Which really was me trying to make my outline, trying to help Duncan with his Chemistry conversions, and try to keep on task. But, Duncan kept making me laugh. He kept making me go off topic, and questioning me about the most absurd things.

Questions like, why do you try so hard? Because it's pointless if I don't try my best all of the time. Why do you care so much about what people think? Because it's ridiculous for people to see me when I'm not at my best. And finally, What's the point? I didn't have an answer to this question, because honestly, I don't know.

The point? _Point to what_?My parents brought Sierra and I up to be the absolute best. That's why we always took the most prestigious courses in school, why we always spend an hour a day practicing both of our instruments, why we were never casually dressed, and always dressed in earthy tone colors and dressed like we were going to church, or work.

Which, thinking about it now, an eight year old wearing a pantsuit sounds absolutely absurd.

"You're right." I agree with Bridgette. "That shouldn't be a problem."

Bridgette smiled, and climbed off the couch. "Want some hot chocolate? One of the girls who I eat lunch with, her name is Lindsay, was passing out free packets. She said something about chocolate causing major breakouts for her skin, and she couldn't have the powder." Bridgette was going through our white creamy colored cabinets, pulling out a purple porcelain glass. She rested it on the counter.

"That sounds good," I nod my head. "It gets colder each day." I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Seriously, I can't take this cold weather. You know I love to surf, and I miss it so much." Bridgette opens our mini fridge and pulls out the half gallon of milk, and pours some into our green mugs.

I watch Bridgette make the hot chocolate mix, and I wonder if I should tell Bridgette about my nasty run in with Heather. Bridgette whacks the silver spoon at the rim of the mugs, and drops it in or sink.

"Anything else going on?" She asks me, walking over handing me the large mug. I cross my legs on the couch, and run a hand through my hair. It has been getting longer, I kind of like it at this length. Usually it rests at my shoulders, but now it's elbow length.

"Well, I had a nasty run in with Heather today." I tell her.

"Ew! When?" Bridgette asks, sitting on the couch, facing me with her legs crossed, mirroring my position. She sipped her drink while waiting for me to respond. I take note of her blonde hair, tucked neatly in a pony tail. She changed out of her uniform, and wore her usual blue sweatshirt.

"Just now," I groan. "She verbally attacked me." I roll my eyes, thinking of Heather's words and sharp attitude. She definitely needs an attitude adjustment. What I would pay to see to have her head shaved, I smirk at the thought.

"So what happened?" Bridgette asks.

"The usual, Heather tries to make my life miserable within each way possible because I _still_ refuse to let her copy off of my math tests, quizzes, assignments, and the usual." Bridgette rolls her eyes. She shares the same math class as Heather and I, so she knows how it is.

"She is so spoiled, I can't wait to see her crash and burn. It'll happen one day, I know it." Bridgette says a matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah, how?" I ask amused, and take a sip of my hot chocolate. _Good stuff_.

"Karma." She says simply. "What goes around comes around."

Bridgette is totally connected with nature and the universe. Her mom is her best friend, they're both vegetarians, and are always taking care of mother nature. What I love about Bridgette is she always has a suitable answer for everything, and looks at all things from both sides. She's a good friend.

"I hear that." We knock our mugs together while saying, "Cheers!"

I stare at the liquid swirls in my drink, and watch the pattern form.

"Court?" Bridgette speaks up, sounding hesitant.

I look up, "Is there anything else?" She asks.

"Well," I bite my lip. "Heather did say something that has been tugging at the sides of my brain ever since we ran into each other."

Bridgette doesn't say anything, she waits for me to go on. Another thing I love about Bridgette, she doesn't dig or pry for information, she just knows when something is up, and doesn't expect me to go on about it.

"She called Duncan my boyfriend, and when I denied it, I couldn't come up with a word that describes what…what we are. I couldn't even think of what we are. What are we?" I look to Bridgette for the answer, clearly she didn't know either.

"I don't know, Court. I guess everyone just assumed that you guys were, that you guys were…" She trailed off. _That we were what_? Bridgette exhaled, and took another sip of her drink. "I guess we all assumed you guys were boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean you both were aware of your feelings for each other before, right?"

"I guess." I shrug.

"And you guys have been on dates before, right?"

Dates? As in plural? I don't think we've ever been on one date. What are the components of a date? God, I wish I had my Google search engine open about now.

"Uh…."

"You haven't been on a date with him yet?"

I shake my head. "Oh, wow. I guess I just assumed…again." Bridgette sipped her drink again. "Foot in the mouth." She said with a light chuckle.

"Maybe you should talk to him," Bridgette says after a minute. "Find out where you stand with him."

"I could do that." I consider this for a minute. It sounds easy, in theory. But, nothing ever comes easy with Duncan. I've been noticing this with each day.

Bridgette's cell phone starts chirping, she puts her mug down on the coffee table, and pulls it out of her front pocket of her sweatshirt. "It's Geoff, I'll be right back." Bridgette gets off the couch, and walks into the hallway to take her call.

I stretch my legs out on the couch, and place my mug on the floor, contemplating on what to do. I don't want to let Heather get inside my head. But, now I can not help but wonder. Duncan and I have not even had like, a real date before. Which does not make the situation anymore easy.

Unless you count that time where he showed me the waterfall. But, that doesn't count. I didn't like him then. _Yeah, you did. You liked him when you first saw him on the train. Admit it._ I roll my eyes, and scoff at my thoughts. I don't know what I'm talking about.

If I ask Duncan what he thinks we are, it might make things worse. He might freak out a little, and ignore me. I mean if I don't know, how would he know? Boys are stupid. Maybe if we set up a date, this would make things less complicated.

Sure we kiss, and we hang out…but it's not the same as being official. _Exclusive_. I pull my cell phone out of my pocket, and slide the screen open, and scroll through my contacts. I click Duncan's name, and click 'Send New Message'. The format for a text message appears, and I decide whether I should text him to set something up, or not.

Isn't it the guys responsibility to set up dates? Sheesh, I do _not_ need this sort of stress. I slide my phone shut, and close out of the message. I drop my phone carelessly on the ground, and close my eyes.

I should not be stressing. I should not be freaking out. The only thing that should be on my mind right now is studying for exams. I grunt in disgust, and get off the couch. I pick up my mug, and my cell phone and start walking over to my desk.

I guess I should start making another study guide for my classes. I dump the remains of my hot chocolate in the sink as Bridgette enters the room, smiling from ear to ear.

"Geoff is the best boyfriend, ever." She squeals.

Her face is glowing, it's nice to see her this happy.

"Why, what happened?" I ask, grabbing my textbooks from my book bag.

"He got me my job back at the library!" She says excitedly.

"Get out! How?" I try not to drop my jaw. Spotting a unicorn on campus was more likely to happen than Bridgette getting her job back. She told me about the details of the conversation she had with the librarian about getting fired, it was pretty harsh.

"Geoff talked with the main librarian, her name is Rebecca. She was the one who's decision it was to let me go, but she had Denise, the librarian who works here on the week days do it for her, which is so crappy. Like making someone do someone else's dirty work?" Bridgette rolls her eyes. "Anyway, he convinced her to give me another chance! He told her that I was not connected with the party whatsoever, and that I was not even there! Then he tried to convince her that the party was some senior's idea. I guess it worked, and now I have my job back!" Bridgette giggled, excitedly.

"That's great news, Bridge!" I sit at my desk, and watch her climb up the ladder to her top bunk, and fall back. "I know! I'm so happy to have Geoff, seriously. He's amazing." She gushed.

I turned around, and cracked open my book. And I couldn't help but think, _I wish I had someone amazing_.

**Thanks again for all of the support and reviews!**


	22. Touching Soles

**Hi everyone! Sorry that this update came a few days late. I've been so busy this week, and next week too. I'm not sure when my next update will be, but do not worry i am most definitely finishing up this fanficiton. I did this one in a rush, so i didn't read it over or make edits. So please, please, forgive me! I promise my next update will be better. I love you guys, I go back to school soon :( Bye!**

_Duncan P.O.V. Saturday morning_

I've spent most of my free time with Courtney. Yeah, I know that sounds nice. With the girlfriend, making out, hanging out. Nope. Not at all. Not even close. Every time I run into Courtney she turns back into her old self. And by old self, I mean the one who slapped me across the face after kissing her.

Not that she has been slapping me around. To my half dismay. Being used in the lightest of terms, Princess has turned into a Nazi. Her superiority has been driving me insane. In our shared classes together she's alright, she's focused on whatever is going on. But outside of class, I want to pull my hair out.

She drags me off to the library, café, cafeteria, or one of our dorm rooms. She claims anywhere we go we can always find room to cram in some study time. Even if it is during lunch, which use to be my favorite subject, until Courtney argued with me until no end that lunch was not a real subject. So now Gym is my favorite. For two reasons, reason one being that Courtney can not make me study for anything whatsoever, and reason two being I get to pound dorks in with dodge balls without my parole officer on my tail.

But, I guess the whole parole officer scene, that was the old me.

I didn't expect Courtney to turn into this crazy uptight chick again once we got together. Maybe it's because of exams coming up within the next month, or because this is how she really is. Either way, Princess is going to be giving me gray hair before I turn nineteen.

I slept until noon when my cell phone began ringing in my ear, I rolled over onto my back, and held my black cell phone above my face. I groaned and saw the name 'Princess' flashing on the screen. I debate silently to myself whether or not I should answer the phone. I could use the fact that Trent is still sleeping as an alibi not for answering.

But, if I don't talk to her now I'm going to have to later. So I decide to pick up to phone. Wow, who would have thought I would try to avoid talking to my…my…whatever we are.

I click the green 'talk' button, and put the phone to my ear.

"Princess, someone's disturbing my beauty rest." I answer groggily.

"Am I? Hm, that's pretty awful, you need it." She sounds bright and awake, and ready for our usual banter.

"Glad you're awake." I say, sitting up hunched over. I rub the sleep out of my right eye, and look over to Dj's bed. His bed was made, and his area was looking spotless as usual. Whenever he talks to his mom(within the three times a day that she calls) she reminds him to keep his side of the room spotless. Dj likes to tell us to same. Trent and I do not happily oblige.

"Really, babe? 'Cause I could disagree." Waking up at noon is early. Waking up at six thirty in the morning, is too freaking early. Back home I would sleep until four in the afternoon, and stay up until six in the morning. This whole school public education thing, yeah it totally screws around with my sleep schedule.

Courtney scoffs over the other end of the phone, I could picture her rolling her eyes now when she said, "You're such a slacker."

"You're so, never mind." I grumble, too tired to think of any words to say.

"Fine, if you're going to be that way then I won't help you study for the up coming exams." She tells me. I smirk.

"Babe, that is the best offer you have given me since we met." I pause and as an after thought I add, "Well, one of the bests."

"I'm not even going to ask what the best was." She says warily over the phone. "Anyway, I really just wanted to meet up with you later." She continues.

I scratch my forehead, and listen to what Courtney tells me. Not that I want to avoid her, but I would like to keep my Saturdays to myself. I realize I hadn't respond to Princess when her voice became annoyed, "Hello? Duncan, hello?"

"Just me and you, hanging out?" I ask.

"Sure." She agrees.

"Not books, no studying, just us being…two teenagers?"

"Whatever you want." and those were the best words I had ever heard.

Courtney and I met in front of her dorm thirty minutes later. I took a ten minute shower, trying to wake up and put in all of my earrings, and threw on my black dog collar with the silver spikes sticking out of it for old times sake. I haven't worn this piece since the day before I left.

I tugged on my black t-shirt with a picture of a skull on it, and my jeans. I tied on my red sneakers quickly and left the room shutting the door behind me. Hopefully, Princess wanted to do something fun today. Like sneak off of campus and go somewhere adventurous. Take some risks for a chance.

I spotted Princess sitting on a wooden painted green bench outside of her building, with a book open in her lap, and her usual brown suede bag beside her. Her brown hair was draping the sides of her face. She was wearing a white shirt with a gray sweater over it. She hardly looked dressed for hanging out. She looked like she was going to my Nana Bitsy's house for tea and crumpets.

I stood before her, and she looked up. She let a small smile crawl on her face, and closed her novel. She slid it into her bag while saying, "Good afternoon."

"It's still morning here in Duncan time." I tell her, she pulled me in for a surprising kiss and pushed me back. "How 'bout now?"

"I'm awake." I grin. "So I say we go to the off campus book store, and-

"Book store?" She sounds caught off guard.

"Yeah, I mean I'm not going to read anything, but it's usually empty and way less boring than the library."

Courtney considers this, "I don't know Duncan, are we really allowed to go off campus?"

"Who cares." I shrug. "Besides, we've done it before." I add.

"That's true," She says quietly, considering this. "But, I still don't think that-

"Whatever you want." I say quickly, cutting her off.

"Huh?" a puzzle expression falls on her face.

"That's what you said, babe. You said we could do whatever I want." I remind her, and she grimaced at her own words. She recomposed herself, and turned back into her strong self.

"Fine. Let's go." She pulled her bag over her shoulder, and wrapped her fingers into mine, and we began sneaking our way off campus.

We made it to the off-campus book store, I swung the door open and a bell chimed with our entrance. The clerk was a petite dark haired girl, who had on black thick framed glasses, with her nose in a book. She never looked up once when we walked in. I tugged on Courtney's hand, and led her to the back of the book store.

This place was pretty small. Not that I cared much for books, or book stores for that matter, but they didn't have a wide reading selection. They had a pathetic looking rack of magazines, and a small kiddy section. They had what looked like a broad fiction and non-fiction section.

Courtney tried planting her feet firmly along the ground as I tried to drag her to the back. "Duncan-please! I'm trying to-I just want to look at the-" Courtney said incoherently, she tugged her hand away from mine, and I frowned, and covered it quickly so she couldn't notice it.

"I want to be able to browse through the non-fiction section, and if you would like to join be you're more than welcome to." She said stuffily. She turned on her heel, and began walking toward the not very large non-fiction section. I rolled my eyes and grumbled about her bossy attitude, and followed her anyway.

She tapped her foot against the floor as she looked through the books. They were books based on nature, and biology and facts like that. Courtney loves science. Even though she claims she wants to be a lawyer, she could be a killer marine biologist. In Chemistry her hand is always up, and I swear she brings the words off of the pages and into her mind.

"Like anything you see?" She asks me.

I smirked, setting up the perfect line to say next. Before I could say anything, Courtney reached out a snatched a book from off of the shelf, "_The Human Mind_.Sounds good." Princess starts turning pages, looking through it.

"Shouldn't that be in an Anatomy section, or something?" My hatred growing toward the book as it gets more attention than me.

"I guess, but it doesn't look like anyone here cares about organization." Princess says disapprovingly.

"Guess not," I shrug uncaringly. "Let's go to the back now, being around all of these books gives me the creeps." Princess giggles a little. I drape my arm around her shoulder and we start walking toward the back.

The back wall was an entire large window, with a long brown leather couch pushed up against it. You couldn't see anything else from the back, there were shelves of books, wrapped around the sides, and in front of the couch giving you a few good feet to walk or sit around.

I untie my sneakers, and sat down on one end of the couch, with my back propped up against the back wall. I stretched my legs out. Princess slid off her shoes and sat down on the other end, and stretched her legs out too. She had her book out in her lap, and opened to the first page. The bottom of her soles reached mine, and she rested her feet like that, against mine. And it felt kind of good.

"You know, I actually wanted to talk with you about something." Princess pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, and closes her book. I watched her as she collected her thoughts. When she didn't say anything after a while I decided to say something.

"Talk about what?"

"Relationships." She says, looking out the window. It was mid-afternoon which meant that the sun was just about in the center of the sky. It was a little cloudy out, but otherwise the sky was totally blue. It stretched on until what looked like forever.

"Ooh-kay." I say awkwardly.

"It's just," she sighs quietly, and looks back at me. "This has been great. We're good together, I think we work good." She tells me. I don't say anything, because I don't want to interrupt her, and change anything about what she wants to say. I don't know where this is going, and I don't know what the hell she wants to say. All I know is I want to avoid this train-wreck at all costs. But, I can't just get up and leave.

"Say something." Her voice sounded like she was pleading.

"I think we work good together too." I say almost immediately.

She smiled at that. "Good," I've never seen Princess like this before. Vulnerable. "Because I really want to know where I stand with you." She finishes quickly.

Once the words were out of her, I have to say she looked a little better. Her face did not look as flushed as it was two moments ago.

"Uh," I begin to drawl, and I scratch the back of my neck. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we hang out a lot, and hold hands and you kiss me sometimes," I had to smile at that, and she did too. "But, am I like, your…friend?"

"Do I go around kissing my friends?" I raise my eyebrow.

Princess rolls her eyes, "You know what I mean. Am I your girlfriend? Or some kind of casual-dater-girl?" Oh, so this is what the girlfriend talk sounds like.

I've never had one of these before. To be honest, I've always wanted to hear how it would sound. Then again having a girlfriend has always sounded like complete hell to me.

"I dunno, Court." I mumble a little. "I sort of thought that we already were, ya know, together. I didn't think it had to be like, official or anything." I shrug it off.

Courtney blushed a light shade of pink, and looked back down at her book not saying anything. I watched her, and studied her face, her features. _And I don't think I've ever seen someone so beautiful before._

"Well," she says, looking up. "I feel awkward, and a little embarrassed." She bites her bottom lip.

I smirk, and raise my eyebrow again, "Really? Because I feel like I'm touching your _sole_." I wiggled my foot against hers, and she snorted.

"Wow. That was…cheesy much?" She stifled slight laughter, and I let my laugh bark out loud. "I don't think it's cheesy, I think I heard Trent use that line of Gwen the other day." I say thoughtfully.

"Really, How are they?" Courtney asks.

I shrug, "Going good, I guess."

Courtney leans her head against the window and stares at me. With the same look I give her, I can imagine.

"I'm glad we got to talk about this." She says quietly.

"I'm just glad I get to talk with you." I tell her. And at that, she smiles. Again.

I never took myself for the sappy type, the type of guy who would turn into a total wuss whenever their girlfriend was around. But, things with Courtney are different. It's like, she's worth it.


	23. One Way In Which Duncan Screws Up

**Hi everyone, again I am SO sorry for the late update. I've been so busy, last week I was busy everyday and overly exhausted. Same goes for yesterday. I will continue to update each week, maybe not on every Monday, but maybe every Wednesday or something. Or maybe randomly once a week. We'll see how this goes. But, I'm definitely going to finish this story, I wouldn't just leave it hanging. Once again, this update was pretty short. Maybe the next one will be longer, we'll see what's in store(since I plan this out/go along with it) But thanks again for all of the readers who add this story to their alerts/favorites, and who add ME to their alerts/favorites which is so kind it's like an honor, really. **

**And a big thank you for you guys who take the extra time to give me a review, thanks to the anonymous reviews too! If I could reply to each of them, I would(but the site doesn't let me) but I do reply to the logged in users, thanks for reviewing everyone! Okay, here's the next chapter, enjoy! Thanks again for everything.  
**

_December_

Don't ask me where the hell the time went. Where does time go? Because last time I checked it was November, exams were a month away, and it did not feel like Princess was shoving pointless and useless school information down my throat. Now exams are only four days away. _Five days._ Five days, Duncan. How can you to expect to learn and memorize our schools curriculum in only five days? Courtney had said to be just yesterday.

I responded by saying, "I don't know, babe. I'll figure something out. So quit naggin' me." Now I only have four days. And I've been only studying whenever I was with Courtney, and I've been trying to avoid her for the past two weeks.

Within those fourteen days I've seen her ten times, once a day. Excluding the four where I did not see her. (Four days where I did not study, and she nagged me through text messages that I better have a textbook open.)Which for us isn't a lot. Most of the time, weather we were a couple or not, we're _inseparable_. Inseparable. I never though that I would be like that with someone. I never thought I would have a connection or a bond with someone, with a girlfriend, that would be so strong that the word inseparable would be the word to describe it.

Huh. Maybe I am growing soft. But, I swear tell anyone that you heard me say that I'll break every bone in your body, and you'll wish that you would have never even met me…but, I digress.

Being in New Jersey the weather is a lot like the east coast of Canada. Although, I have to say it probably isn't as cold here as it is there. Which isn't saying much. When everyone around here left campus last week for Thanksgiving break, Geoff, Courtney and I, and some other kids, stayed on campus. In Canada Thanksgiving day is in October, and I already had to miss that being here in New Jersey. So I called my parents and begged them to let me leave like everyone else, but they kept telling me No. And there wouldn't be much of a purpose for me being home.

Yeah, thanks mom. Thanks pops. Just don't expect me to be the one to change your diapers when you're like, a thousand and one years old.

Now I'm trudging through three inches of soft white snow, going from my dorm to the on campus café. I convinced Courtney to meet me there to study rather than go to the library for a few different reasons.

Reason one, I hate libraries. Reason two, the library is practically all the way across campus from my dorm, and that would mean I would have to walk through the cold and the snow to get to a place that I hate. Reason three, the library is too quiet for me, at least in the café there is a totally different and better atmosphere for me to work in. I can't work in quiet and silence. I mean come on, do you know who I am?

Part of me wishes my parents could see me right now. They would be shocked, my deceased great aunts and uncles would roll over in their graves seeing me working this hard. Assuming, they've seen my delinquent ways and now know I am a sort of changed man.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still the old Duncan. Of course, my green Mohawk is fading once again, I haven't been wearing my spiked collar, or my earrings. I don't threaten geeks, and I don't intimidate people as often as I should. But, like I said, I'm still the old me. I still smirk. Sometimes.

But, there would be major perks if my folks saw me now. They would be awestruck. They would be on their knees telling me how sorry, and how wrong they were to send me here. They would love to see me actually doing work for school, and not getting in trouble. They would love to hear that I haven't talked to my parole officer since my departure.

Okay, honesty time? They would love Courtney. They would love everything that she has turned me into, and how much I have changed. For the better, or worse I haven't decided. They would think it's great, but I'm not sure how I feel about this 'new me'.

I don't know if I like who I've become. I mean I make my bed every morning, I always have Courtney in mind with almost everything I do. I've been doing my papers and homework, mainly because if I don't I'll be shipped back home and back to juvey, but the difference is I've actually been trying, and doing a good job.

The scary thing is, I owe it all to Courtney. I owe all of the differences and changes I've made in myself to her. This is so not like me. To make changes, I hate change. And to thank people. That's something I never do. I don't not thank people because I'm selfish, but because it slips my mind, or because I simply don't realize it enough to care.

For the change thing, It has never really been my kind of thing. Unless I don't like the way things are, I'll change them. Otherwise I like the way things are, or they just don't bother me enough.

I mean, why can't things just stay the way they are? For instance, why couldn't I just stay home? Why did the weather have to go from nice in the Fall to shitty in the winter?

I reach the entrance of the café, and the bell attached to the door rings as I swing the door open and enter. Courtney is sitting in our usual spot, on the high stool at the high table. Her book bag is hanging off of the chair, and she has a stack of books and notebooks. I gulped at the work she'll make me do, and approach her. She wore a blue v-neck sweater and her long khaki pants with a pair of black boots tucked underneath.

She looked up and saw me sit down next to her. She brushed her hair out of her face. She pushed two books toward me, "Everything you need to know about the basics of _Western Civilization_ is in this first book, with the yellow binding." She says, pointing her pen to the bottom book. "And in this one with the red binding is the basics of organic chemistry. Which is basically carbon-based." She tells me.

I stare at the large books, and wait for the migraine to form. "We don't need to know anything about the background of Chem. We already went over the study guide in class, Dr. Sumner already gave us a review sheet. He said we could use it on the exam, remember?" I ask trying to keep my voice even, and not sound annoyed.

Princess rolls her eyes exasperated, and sighed. "It doesn't hurt to be safe." Judging by my migraine, it does.

"No way, if I don't need to do this extra work. I'm not." I pushed the book back toward Princess. She furrowed her eyebrow. "Duncan, I'm warning you. This is for your best interest. Have I ever steered you wrong?" She asks.

Tricky question. I could be honest, and tell her no, simply because I've never let her. Or I could be an ass, and say yes just because, and then begin an argument with her.

"Yes."

She scoffed shocked, "Name one time!" She dropped the pen she was holding, and crossed her arms angrily.

"I don't have to." I say calmly, and shrug.

"That's because you can't think of one!" She says, her voice getting tight.

"No, that's not why." My voice remains smooth.

It's like a new battle tactic. If I keep my voice smooth and calm, it ticks Princess off because she can crack quicker than I can.

"Yes it is!" She says quickly.

"Okay, how about that time where you made out with me in the elevator?" I raise my eyebrow.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Her voice gets impatient.

"Nothing," I shrug. "It was just a hot memory."

She makes an angry growling noise in her throat, and clench her fists annoyed.

"What's wrong, Princess?" I ask, hiding my smirk.

"My name is Courtney." She says tightly.

"Back to square one, I see." I nod with understanding.

Princess takes a minute to shut her eyes and recompose herself. "Duncan, I'm warning you. Stop this foolishness, and get back to studying and I won't kill you tonight."

"Sounds tempting, really." I say with sarcasm, and she rolls her eyes again. "But, I'd rather do something more _fun_. Come on, we don't need to study for midterm exams! All of our teachers give us cheat sheets that we can use on the tests! And you're acting like these things determine our future! Everyone knows as long as you get at least a C you're fine!"

Courtney looked shocked, "A _C_? I've never been given a C in my entire existence. I've never been given a B minus!" Courtney pauses for a moment and says, "I got a B once in seventh grade, damn teacher didn't appreciate my artistic vision on Moby Dick." She grumbled to herself.

I nod like I care. "Okay, can we go now? Midterms are like ten percent of our grade, which if you're me, that isn't a whole lot."

"Duncan, it kind of is." Courtney puts her elbow on the table, and rests her hand on her cheek.

"So?"

"So?" She repeats. "Duncan, you don't take anything seriously, do you?"

"Only the things that are important to me!"

"And school isn't important to you?" Courtney challenges.

"Not really! Princess, look at me. Does it look like I ever cared about school?"

Her expression softens, and she sits up straight. "Maybe." She says softly. "but, that's just the kind of person you are." She adds.

"Wrong answer." I shake my head. "You don't get it. You can't force me or anyone for the matter, to like school. Or to study for it! The more you push people the worse you make the situation-

"That's not true, you've been doing really well since I've been helping you and-

"- and I'm sick of it!" I finish once I cut her off.

"Sick of what, Duncan?" Courtney asks agitated.

"Sick of you making me do all of this studying and shit! It's boring, and exhausting, and frankly a waste of my time!" I get off the stool, and throw on my black winter coat.

"Where are you going? You're not just going to leave, are you?" Her voice growing angrier.

"I guess I am. Cause that's just the type of person I am, isn't it?" I throw at her. Her face looks hurt for a second, but she hides it well, and shoots me an angry look. "Where are you going, we have so much to work on!" She calls after me, still sounding angry.

"I don't yet, oh but Princess, I have something for you to work on." I pause at the door, and turn to face her.

"What?" She asks.

By this time the entire café is staring at us. Couples on the couch, a group of kids sitting around the table. I smirk and take opportunity for total embarrassment.

"It's basic anatomy really," She raises her eyebrows. "Grow a heart!" And with that I swung the door open and stormed out.

"Oh yeah! Well, grow some balls! You call that a dramatic exit, well I've done better!" I hear her shouting from outside the door as I kept walking toward my dorm.

**Oooh, drama ;) let's see what's in store for the next update! But, really thanks for reviewing and reading. It keeps me going and writing and it's the perfect motivation that people care about what I'm reading and what I have to say. So what do you guys think of the new TDWT season? I like it, i didn't think I would with the new characters, but they're alright. I heard about Total Drama Reloaded, and apparently it's a new cast, and that makes me uneasy, because I don't know if i'll like that. Well, we'll see. :D Thanks again for the reviews!**

**- much love, Johnna  
**


	24. Psycho and Psychic

**Hi everyone! Yay I have this one up sort of early! I'm so proud, and this one is sort of longish haha! I hope everyone had a great summer, because I know some of us are starting school very, very soon! :( But, that's okay, learning can be fun! (...okay, what?) Thanks for your patience and support on each chapter. The reviews are great and I love you all so much! It makes my heart all warm and fuzzy! P.S. I totally love Degrassi now. Seriously, i love Eli and Clare. I can't even, i'm watching them now, AH! Okay thanks again for everything!**

_Courtney P.O.V_

I remained in the wooden stool, staring at the door. Waiting for Duncan to come back. Waiting for him to turn around and apologize, and tell me that was just a sick joke. To come back and do or say anything that would take this humiliation off of my shoulders.

The guy who is wiping the counter down has been looking at me for like, ten minutes. Everyone laughed at my "Grow balls!" remark, and others didn't know whether to laugh or to be scared if I were to lash out on them. I didn't do anything.

I looked at the digital clock from across the room, planted on the wall. It has been fifteen minutes now. He isn't coming back. I put my notebooks into my book bag, and cradle the large books in my arm. I walk out of the café, trying to keep my head held high, so no one would suspect me breaking on the inside.

I made it back to my dorm room, and Bridgette and Gwen were sitting on my couch. _What is she doing here_? I thought bitterly to myself. I know Gwen has a thing for Trent now, but I'm not totally in love with the idea of her being here.

"Where's Eva?" I automatically ask, placing my book bag beside my bed, and the stack of books I checked out from the library on my bed.

"She went home for the week, remember she muttered something about a family situation on her way out." Bridgette says strangely. "Why?"

"Just wondering." I don't even know why I asked.

I sit on my bed, "Uh, hi. Courtney." Gwen says.

"Oh, Gwen. I didn't see you there."

Okay, I know what you're thinking, I'm being such a bitch right now. But, I don't exactly want Gwen here, who is the female version of Duncan. And I don't want to think about him at all.

"Yeah, Bridgette invited me over to hang out…I mean if you don't mind." She says, indifferently, exchanging looks with Bridgette. I notice out of the corner of my eyes. I'm actually facing my bed, taking off my boots.

"No, why would I mind?" I ask a little too harshly.

"Beats me." I heard Gwen mumble.

I ignore this, and bring my boots over to the closet, and place them perfectly on the inside. I close the closet door, and sit on my bed, and the girls continue to watch me.

"What?" I snap.

"Nothing…it's just, are you alright?" Bridgette asks.

"Of course, I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" I scoff.

"Because you said you were studying with Duncan less than an hour ago, and you're already back." Bridgette points out. Damn perceptive friendship.

"Me and Duncan are _fine_." I say looking at Gwen. I didn't even realize I was saying this to her as she was looking at me. "Perfect, really." I scoff again.

"I beg to differ, but it really isn't any of my business." Gwen says.

I clench my teeth shut, and don't say anything, because if anything were to leave my mouth I can guarantee it would not be good at all. I heard Bridgette say something quietly to Gwen, as if she was chastising her a little bit, and Gwen say something back just as quiet.

"Well, I know longer feel welcome here. Bridgette if you want to hang out, you can come to my room." Gwen stood up, and pick up her black leather book bag, and slid it over her shoulder, and began retreating toward the door.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out." I mutter, as her porcelain white hand reached for the door knob.

"Courtney!" Bridgette said in her chastising voice.

"No, you know what? Don't bother." Gwen says annoyed, turning around to face me. A perplex image crosses my face. "You know, Courtney I thought we were getting off to a good friendship, I mean I never totally hated you. But, I guess you can't say the same for yourself, can you?" Before I could even think of a response, Gwen turned back around and pulled the door open storming out of my room.

"What's your problem, today?" Bridgette turned to me.

"I don't have a problem." I say stubbornly, crossing my arms.

"I think you do, talk to me when you're done being so spoiled." Bridgette got up and started walking toward the door, and grabbed her purse hanging off of the rack.

"Where are you going?" I ask shocked at her exit.

"I have a job, remember?" She walked out closing the door behind her.

I laid back on my bed, and rested my head on my pillow. _When did I become super bitch_? I moan and close my eyes. _This is all Duncan's fault. _I think to myself. If he wasn't such a slacker we would be able to work in harmony, and I wouldn't have come back here and attacked Gwen or Bridgette.

I sit up, and cross my legs and my arms angrily. I pull my cell phone out of my pocket, and stare at the screen not even a call or a text from him. Anything from him would at least let me know what he's thinking. Duncan isn't as complicated as he wants everyone to think.

I wait. And I wait some more. I keep waiting and it has been two hours and he still no sign of Duncan. I rack my brain and think of where he could be and who he is with. If anything he is with Geoff. But, it wouldn't be the best idea to go find Duncan, especially since he needs to apologize to me.

I mean embarrassing me in public when all I tried to do was help him was so humiliating. I would never embarrass him like that. Right? Right. I've never done anything to humiliate him. Especially in public. All I ever do is try to help him_. Guess what, Courtney. He doesn't _want_ your help. _I close my eyes. Sadly, I'm right. He doesn't want anyone's help. He's so infuriating. How can I be with someone who doesn't accept the help or change from anyone other than himself.

_You can't be. _A part of me whispered to myself. A part of me right now seriously does not know what the hell to do. I could either break it off with Duncan right now, or hang in a little longer and give him a second chance.

But, why should I? I mean from the start we always argue and mess around. I mean do you know how distracting and annoying that is? He always has to do things his own way, and all of the little things he does, so annoying. Like he always chews with his mouth open. I swear he has the table manners of a chimp.

Sometimes I wish I had never even met him.

Other times I can't believe I would ever wish such a thing.

He gets me. He listens to me. I mean he doesn't actually do what I tell him to, but he understands. Sometimes that's enough for me. Sure, he puts in his unwanted opinion but I can accept that if he can accept me.

There are so many good things about us. But, sometimes the bad can outweigh the good. And there is always one thing I can do when I come to a crossroad decision like this one. Make a list.

I reach under my pillow for my diary. I feel it's rough binding, and pull it out onto my lap. I look over my diary and think about the last time I had written in here and I can not remember. Ever since the Duncan incident I had been too afraid to share my feelings with anyone, anything.

I open my diary, and slip out the black ball point pen that rested on the inside, and turned to a blank page. I smooth the page over with my fingers, and take off the pen cap and write down the date neatly in the top right hand corner.

December thirteenth

Pros & Cons - Duncan

**Cons**

**1. He is reckless.**

**2. He has awful table manners.**

**3. He is vile.**

**4. He is rude.**

**5. He is a delinquent, and does not follow the rules.**

**6. We are total opposites and not right for each other.**

I ran the back of my pen up and down the side of the page and bit down on my tongue trying to wrack my brain for more reasons why the universe does not want Duncan and I together. I couldn't think of any. Actually, I thought of a few, but none that were truly acceptable to list. So I started the pros.

**Pros**

**1. He likes me for me.**

**2. He makes me feel alive.**

**3. I get to be someone else when I'm with him, more than just boring old Courtney.**

**4. I laugh more when I'm with him.**

**6. I love being around him.**

Before going on, I stopped and looked at number six, and the wording. Love. _Love_. I hadn't even realized I wrote love. Almost subconsciously I was trying to tell myself this is it. This should be the reason that outweighs all of the bad.

Because that is just it, isn't it? Isn't love suppose to be some kind of magical thing that turns normal people into people who are alive and always happy? How would I know anyway. All of my knowledge on love is truly based on pop culture and fiction. Things I've read in books, watched in movies. Truly, I've never been in love before.

I have never seen my parents in love. Each morning going through my past memories my parents would greet each other with a kiss, occasionally do favors for one another, but there was never a passionate, fiery, romance going on between them.

I'm not sure if I ever would like to see that, but not seeing that only proves that it might not even exist. And if it doesn't exist, then why should I put all of my emotions, feelings, and energy into something that will just fail in the end.

If Duncan doesn't feel the same way about me then this isn't worth it. If Duncan and I aren't soul mates then this isn't worth it. Not that you should only be dating one person your entire life. But, what's the point if that person is not the person you end up being with in the end.

I need to find my answers now. But, I can't just ask Duncan right up front. What if he doesn't answer. Or what if he says no. What if he just wants to end things with me on the spot because he thinks I have been such a control freak he can't handle me. So then he'll dump me and get with that annoying Lindsey girl that transferred into our Chem. Class last week.

I cringe and slide my pen cap back on, and put the black pen back into my diary. I sigh, and shut my eyes for a minute and suddenly I know what I want to do. I close my diary and slide it back under my pillow, and roll off my bed. I run a hand through my hair and slide on my shoes and winter jacket. The snow stopped but there's a rough breeze running outside.

I check my back pocket for money, and pull out a ten dollar bill. That should be fine. I walk out of my room, and out of the dorm. Once I'm out of the dorm, I start walking in the direction off campus.

I'm going to that psychic I went to on my first week on campus with Bridgette, Duncan, and Geoff. I know she is open, she has to be. She's a psychic she is expecting me to come.

I never buy into this psychic crap, but when it comes to love, or what could be love, all of that doesn't matter. No one needs to know I'm going down to a psychic anyway. If anyone did everyone would think I've lost it. I can already hear the whispers from Heather. _"Ohmigod did you hear, Courtney Alderson totally went to a psyhic the other day? I know! She's so nutsy, she makes that Izzy chick look sane." _I grimace, and trudge through the snow, closer to the psychic's shop.

Once I make it to the entrance, I pull open the silver door, and the bell on the top chimed, summoning my entrance. The winter breeze swooped in as I closed the door cutting it off. I slowly walk toward the maroon silky, suede curtain.

"Um, hello?" I called out.

Nothing. I couldn't hear anything. I sighed and turned to retreat out the door.

"Darling, come in, come in!" I heard an old voice say.

I turn around surprised, and saw a woman who had to be in her early fifties wearing different color cloths and robes wrapped all around her. With big ruby earrings hanging from her ears, and shiny and sparkly rings and bracelets.

"Hi, I-I'm Courtney." I say hesitantly, and take three steps toward the psychic.

"You're here for a psychic reading, aren't you?"

I nod my head, and try not to be impressed with her knowledge. Why else would I be here?

"Well come back here with me, and we can see what is in store for your future." She said with her silky voice lingering in the air. I keep my coat tight, and my arms crossed over my chest as I follow her out the back.

My black trench coat reached my knees, and isn't really the best thing to wear with the snow outside, but I didn't have time to grab my dark blue winter coat.

The psychic sat opposite of me on a small round table, with a dark, pink, silky, long table cloth hanging down, reaching the floor. I pulled out the brown wooden chair, and took my seat.

"My name is Mimi, and I am the daughter of _Aquarius_." She said shutting her eyes. Oookay…I'm weirded out. "I can see and feel your energy. You're closed off to the world, you are unsure, and tense." She kept her eyes shut, and I examined her light blue eye makeup, and tried to concentrate on what she was saying.

"But, there is an undisclosed reason why you are here, what brings you here my child?" She opened her eyes, and looked at me. I couldn't think of what to say to her. Suddenly, I forgot why I was here.

"Nervous?" She asks.

I stay still, and swallow. "Uh-no. I just-

"Tell me, what is your sign?" She asks me next.

"Libra." I answer.

"And you're name, dear?" She asks with a smile, I catch a glimpse of her bright white shiny teeth. "Courtney." I answer obidently.

"Courtney, daughter of the planet Venus, a Libra." She says closing her eyes. She starts doing some kind of weird chant, and momentarily I forget why I am here.

"You are here," I snap back and look at her. "For your romance troubles." She says smiling. My mouth forms a small gap in surprise.

"Mimi is always right, child." She says with her silky voice. "What is his name?"

"That isn't important." I say quickly, and focus on the glass crystal ball in between us on the table, with the smoky white color floating around.

"Then what is wrong, my dear?" She asks, opening her eyes again.

"I want to know if this relationship I am in is worth it." I tell her.

I wait for her to start chanting, or look into her crystal ball or do something. She reaches underneath the table, and pulls out tarot cards. A small deck.

"Hearts desire." She says and begins separating the cards into small individual piles. When she finishes putting four cards in a row, she lays her hand out and points to each card. "Select the card that closely represents you physically or spiritually." Two cards were woman with fair skin, and fair hair. The other two were dark haired women with dark skin to match.

I chose the card on the far right, the women with the dark skin and dark hair. Mimi flipped the card over. "See the nine hearts?" She asks.

"Mhm." I hum eagerly. "It reads you will get what you heart desires." I groan.

"What's wrong, child?"

"I don't know what my heart desires, Mimi!"

"What do you mean? Surely, everyone knows what they want."

I shake my head. "I need to know if the relationship I am in is worth it. If my boyfriend wants to be with me as much as I want to be with him." I tell her. Mimi nods her head, and takes out another set of tarot cards.

"The loved ones," she explains. "Pick out the card that represents you and your lover." I pick out the two cards, and she puts the extras away. Then she flips the two over and I wait. A smile twists up on my lips, and my stomach churns waiting for her to tell me something.

"This first one," she taps her long red finger nail onto the card numbered four, with red diamonds. "_Someone In love with you_, reads admirer in the midst, someone's been smiling at you, knowing that your heart is good, knowing that you're special. Open your heart to receive this love and if it's honest and noble, it will be very, very blessed." She tells me. I let this information settle inside of me, and try to tell myself that this is good news.

I wait for Mimi to explain the next card. It was a red of nine diamonds. "This next one, _Good fortune, and good luck_, reads fortune or good luck is heading your way - you have worked hard, you have earned this break, believe in it and accept it unconditionally. Appreciation will lead to more." Not sure what this has anything to do with Duncan, I nod my head, and think that this might have something to do with my upcoming exams, and I start to feel better.

The third one was an eight of black clubs. "This one right here," she taps her finger on top of it. "Is _The Roadway_. A destination unknown - you always need to move, to move is to learn. Nature moves - water moves, if it does not it becomes stagnant and stale. Spread your wings take heart and follow the path." I look at the fourth and final card and wait for Mimi to tell me its meaning.

It was an unusual looking card. A red of diamonds, a one. Not an Ace like a usual deck of cards. Then again these were tarot cards for predicting the future. Not exactly common.

"Ah, our final one." She grinned at me. "_A Ring_. It signifies a cycle or a union - the joining of souls - it also signifies the completeness one continual circle. A full cycle has been reached. What you have sowed, you shall reap, now sit back and relax a spell, enjoy this time."

My stomach churns again. Mimi collects her cards, and smiles at me. "Are you pleased?" She asks me. I nod my head, "Yes. Thank you for your time." I get up, and Mimi clucks her tongue. "Psychics do not do readings for free, my dear."

My cheeks turn red with embarrassment, and pull out the ten dollar bill, and hand it to Mimi, she smiles. "It'll do. Goodbye for now, my child." I wave goodbye, and exit the shop, and start walking through the snow on campus.

So maybe, just maybe Duncan and I are meant to be. That's not even the scary part. The scariest part is, I might like the sound of that.

**Thanks for reading! :) I would like to note that everything written in about the tarot cards and readings is stuff I found off of the internet! So I'm not sure if this stuff is true, but it fit well into the plot and storyline! Again, thanks for the support. I love you all so much! Have a great week!**


	25. Mine

**Ah! We're getting closer to the end =( this is bittersweet. it's awesome because that means I've officially written three fanfics, but sad because I really liked this one! I got this update up fast, and It's short but very how you guys would describe...'fluffy?" hahaha it's really cute, very mushy. But, it's not over just yet! I hope everyone who is going back to school soon(or whoever is already back) has a great school yeah! new beginnings! New TDWT tonight too , yay! Have a great week! Thanks for adding me to your favorite stories/author alerts, that's socool! and thanks for taking the time to read, and taking the extra time to review! You're all so special *happy face***

_Duncan P.O.V_

It's two a.m. No, seriously. It's really two o'clock in the fricken' morning, and there is an repetitive banging fist against my door. Dj and Trent are knocked out sleeping, and don't appear to hear anything. I groan aloud, and throw my covers off of me, and walk angrily toward the door.

Whoever is interrupting me while I should be sleeping is seriously going to pay. I'm not even wearing a shirt, just my black sweatpants. Hopefully this guy will get a look at my six pack and get the picture that I could rearrange his face with one punch for waking me.

I swing the door open angrily, and my expression immediately changes and softens when I see who is at the door. It's princess. When she sees me, she swallows, and crosses her arms over the gray sweatshirt on her stomach.

"Hi." I say, closing the door from behind me, and stepping out in the hall.

Princess takes a step back. Her sweatpants were similar to mine, black and long, and had the same white logo in the top corner. Actually, they were the same pair as mine. For some reason I find this more interesting than it actually is. Then again, I remind myself it's two a.m.

"Hi, Duncan." She says slightly above a whisper.

"What are you doing out here? You know how much trouble we could get into if we get…" I stop myself. I'm starting to sound like Courtney. That's a scary thought.

"I know," She says hurriedly. "I just…I had to see you." She swallows, and pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, and looks up from the floor to my face.

"Well, I'm here." I drop my arm. "What is it, babe?"

She looks at me, and her eyes were kind of sparkling. They were the darkest shade of brown I have ever seen, but they were unique that way. Like I would never see anything like that again. "Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking. A lot." She starts off, rubbing her arm. "About us." She adds.

I lean against a wall and wait for her to get everything out in the open. It wouldn't do any good to interrupt her, especially now. She pushes her hair back, and it falls forward again. She taps her foot, I've never seen her like this before.

"Say something!" She barks keeping her voice low for no one else to hear.

"Sorry, I figured you would like to have the floor." I shrug.

"I do! But, you usually interrupt me and stomp all over my sentences. It makes it a lot harder to concentrate when you're quiet." She crosses her arms and faces her back to me. Oookay…this chick has flown off her rocker. Or whatever that expression is.

"Sorry, uh….rah, rah…blah. Okay happy?" I ask carelessly.

"No!" She says stubbornly facing me again.

She studies my face, and I let out an exhausted yawn.

"This was so stupid for me to come here." She mutters, and tries to walk away. I grab her arm gently, and pull her around to face me again.

"You know you can tell me _anything_." I tell her like I had once before.

"I know," She whispers. "That's the problem."

I repress an annoyed sigh, and just look at her. I let go of her arm, and she instinctively, puts her hand on the spot where my hand had just been. I lean against the wall, and slide down onto the floor.

"Start from the beginning." I instruct. "And work your way up to what you want to tell me. It's almost two thirty in the morning, we have exams in three days, and you're freaking me out."

Courtney nods her head, and sits beside me. She rests her head on my shoulder which feels good for the moment.

"I was having a really bad afternoon after we had that…fight, or whatever." She starts. "I came back to my room and Gwen was there and I totally freaked out on her." She says regretfully.

"What was she doing there?" I interrupt, like she wants.

She shrugs, "I don't know…to hang out with me and Bridgette, I guess." she mumbles. "Then after Gwen left, Bridgette left for work early because I got mad at her too, and she got mad at me for getting mad at her and Gwen." I try and process everything she is telling me.

"Okay, so where do I fit into all of this?" I ask rubbing my eye.

She paused and listed her head off of my shoulder. "I realized I was still mad with you, so I made a list-

"Like you always do." I mention. She smiles a little and nods her head. "What was the list about?" I ask.

"I was sort of…contemplating whether we should be together or not." She says quietly, suddenly interested with her fingers.

"Oh."

"But then the list came down to six and six…and to be honest I could have added more to one side than the other, but I left it even." She tells me, "and so then I took a walk, down to that psychic we went to earlier. Do you remember?" She looks at me, tired, exhausted, and worried.

"Uh…vaguely." I shrug.

"So I went to this psychic to see if we were….well you know." She shrugs, playing with the hem of her sweatshirt.

"No, I don't know." I shake my head. Now I have a headache from all of this talking and sleep exhaustion.

"To see if we're…_compatible_." She explains.

"Compatible?"

"Yes." She nods her head sure of herself. "No." She changes her answer.

"No?" I raise my eyebrow.

"I wanted to see if we were meant to be. Like if this relationship was worth it."

Wow. Okay. Now there is a huge rock settling inside of my stomach. It feels like the rock is doing back flips and nail grinders against my stomach because I feel like I'm about to vomit. But, I'm not going to. The rock stops flipping, and I look at Courtney who is staring at me expectantly.

"And what did you find out?" I ask her.

"It is."

The back of my head leans against the wall, and I roll my eyes to look at Princess. She's hunched over, and leaning forward. She's waiting for me to say something, I can tell because she has that same expectant expression she wears when we argue.

"Tell me something I don't know." I nudge her in the side, and she exhales a huge breath.

"I'm pretty happy to hear that, Duncan." She says quietly.

"But, since when do you buy into this psychic mumbo jumbo?" I scratch my neck, and drop my hand.

"I don't, well I do now." She wrapped her fingers around mine, and leaned against me again. "I guess I'm sorry for overreacting and going all psycho on your earlier today." She says.

Wow, Princess apologizing. Where's my video camera?

I smirk, "What?" She asks defensively.

"Nothing, it's just you admitting you're wrong? Kind of mind blowing." I shrug.

She rolls her eyes annoyed. "Well don't expect it to happen again." She warns.

I laugh and shake my head, "I don't." She smiles too. "So where do we go from here?" I ask her.

I wait but she doesn't say anything. I wait some more. "Court?" I turn my head to see her sleeping. Her head leaned against my shoulder, her brown hair messily around her face, and on my shoulder.

I smirk, it's kind of cute, actually. But, she doesn't need to know that. I wince, unsure of how to move her without waking her. But I have to somehow, I can't carry her all the way across campus without someone noticing us.

I use my hand to pinch her arm, and her eyes snapped open. "Ow!" She squeaked, and leaned off of me. She rubbed her arm and furrowed her brow.

"Duncan! You know I'm very sensitive there." She chastised me, and I smirked.

I stood up, and reached my hand out for her to take. She grabbed it and stood up along with me.

"I guess I was more exhausted than I thought." She admitted sheepishly.

"Guess so." I smile lazily.

She yawns while stretching her arms, which is kind of cute. I wrap my arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let me walk you back to your dorm. We can talk more tomorrow…or later today." She smiles, and wraps herself closer to me, which feels really nice.

"I think we did enough talking for one week." Courtney laughs lightly.

"Nah, I think I want to get another apology out of you. This time I'll bring my tape recorder."

"Have you been working out?" She asks, looking at my abs.

"Nah, not gonna work this time, Princess. Don't try to soften me up." I smile again. "But, shameless flattery does work a little." I say as an afterthought.

"Well, what if I kiss you?" She puts a hand on my stomach, and smiles. She leans in as I lean down and our lips met in the middle.

I could feel her smiling against my lips as she wrapped her arms around me. We both pulled apart, she bit her lip and started walking toward the door. I smile and caught up with her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder again and walked her back to her dorm.

**See? Fluffy and cute XD Have a great week everyone, thanks again for reading and reviewing. This story would have gone no where without you guys. It would have been saved as a document file on my laptop forever titled as 'Idk' - seriously that's what it was called at first haha! Thanks again, love you guys!**


	26. Crunch Time

**Ah! I think this just might be the second to last chapter :( We'll see, like I've mentioned before, I just make everything up as it goes along, and rarely plan things out =P So I started school on Thursday, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Yay lol. I hope everyone has a good Labor Day weekend, and there's a new TDWT so that'll be cool too! Yay two things to look forward to, I guess I like Mondays again haha. I would again, like to thank everyone who reads my story and adds me and the story to their favorites/alerts. And to everyone who reviews, and the anonymous reviews too, who I can't reply to :(**

**CarmillaD: You are SO right, I hadn't even noticed the birthday thing, lmao i love that you know this better than I do(which is severly wrong, since I'm the one writing it and I should be taking notes on this stuff) but, I do thank you though, because now i'll be on my toes(or try to be) and be more observant to my writing, so thanks! :D And thanks for always reviewing my stuff!**

**Thanks guys! And I want your opinion, should i send duncan home over the Christmas break with his parents, and write a chapter about that, or should my next update be about him back at the school taking place after vacation? Let me know! I'm not sure what I should do :D  
**

It's crunch time. The day of exams are finally here, and I couldn't be stressing this anymore. I already got through my first three exams, and there is no psychology or gym exam. Luckily, my Italian teacher let us get away without an exam too. English exam couldn't be easier. Our teacher had us read a story and do a full out analysis, basically all I had to do was write about what I interpreted from the story. So if you're wondering if I got a freebie and got to bullshit my first exam? You're right.

Chemistry could have been better…by a lot. I didn't know much of what I was doing, especially when it came to the transitions and the numbers and formulas. My brain was spinning the entire time, I was considering handing the exam back in as soon as I took one look at it.

The last exam I had was my math exam and it wasn't half bad. My teacher let the class use a cheat sheet, so I cramped my tiniest hand writing in and wrote down everything I could manage to write down. I never thought I'd say this, and believe me I never thought I would actually know what it's like to pass an exam. Not to mention a math one, with like numbers, and formulas and crap.

All of us students got an hour break, and I spent it in the cafeteria stuffing my face with food. Taking exams is awfully exhausting, and I'm a growing boy. I need lots of food. Geoff and I scarped down loads of eggs and bacon. I washed it down with my glass of orange juice and now we're both heading into our Western Civ. class together for our next exam.

Now studying for this class I distinctively remember. Princess kept making me highlight and underlining the names of random, or 'important' as Princess would say, people. History was never one of my finer subjects, I'm just not good with itty bitty details about people when they died or signed documents.

I walked pass Courtney, and rub my hand onto her shoulder and took the seat behind her. She turned her head and smiled quickly. "So are you ready?" She put a black pen behind her ear.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." I shrug.

"Good to hear." She flashed me her smile full of her white shiny teeth.

She turned back around, Geoff plopped down into his usual seat, behind Harold. Harold sounded like he was dry heaving while sharpening one of his pencils into a mini red hand-held sharpeners.

Geoff rolled his eyes, "Harold, buddy! What's going on?" He asks loudly, clapping his hand onto his shoulder. I smirk as Harold let out a surprised yelp, forcing him to jump forward in his chair a little, resulting for his sharpener to fall out of his hands.

"Whoops." Geoff said shrugging innocently.

Geoff turned to me as I grabbed a pen out of my back pocket. "So bro, you comin' home for winter break?"

Winter break. I hadn't even thought of that since I have been studying and cramming so much. I hadn't talked to my mom since sometime last week, I think I heard her mentioning Christmas, and if I wanted to come home. I don't remember what I had said, or if I had said anything at all.

"Uh, I don't know. I think I might just kick it here for the week."

Courtney whipped around quickly. "Don't you want to go home to see your parents, your family?"

I scratch the back of my head and think about it. But, what is going home going to do for me. At least while I'm here on campus I can just chill while no one nags me about my grades, or making new friends. In fact, staying here and sharing a campus with the very, very, few kids who would be here might not be so bad.

"It might be cool to see them…but I mean I don't care if I don't." I answer finally.

"I gotta see my folks and my brothers and sister, or they'll literally piss themselves." Geoff said chuckling lightly after.

"Well, I actually want to see my parents, and even Sierra." Princess says.

"Are you taking the two o'clock train on Saturday?" Geoff asks her.

"Yes, and the twelve o'clock bus before the train ride." she says.

"Sweet, yo bro you gotta get a ticket and kick it with us on the ride! Bridge says her 'rents are making her take the three o'clock train. Says they're going on vacation for the break." He explains.

As our teacher walks in, everyone clears their desks of their study notes and folders. I glance back at Geoff and notice that the exams are already being passed out down the aisle. "I'll think about it." I tell Geoff, and turn to look at my exam.

Two hours later I was okay. I was seriously…okay. My brain wasn't throbbing with useless information from the exam I had just taken. I wasn't worried that I totally failed, I just felt…mutual. Like if I did really bad it wouldn't be the end of the world, because I don't feel that way at all.

"I'll get these back to you guys next year." Mr. Daniels says winking at us, as he repeated the same old punch line each teacher has delivered today. Some kids groaned at the lame joke as the rest of us packed our things up for departure.

I saw Gwen sitting in her usual corner spot, drawing something in her sketchpad.

I've seen a few of her sketches before. She showed me them earlier in the semester on one of the days where we were just hanging out at lunch. They were good, a little dark, but pretty good otherwise.

It's so funny how things have changed so much between September to now. It's like I was an entirely different person back then. I was a different person. I was single, into mind games and playing people. I didn't give two damns about what anyone said or thought of me. I considered school an option, I wore more accessories than most girls and my hair was green.

Now school isn't as bad as it seems, especially when you live on campus. I'm going out with Courtney, and even though I hate to say it, and I really hate to say it…she's probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. I don't go around telling people off like I use to, well unless they really tick me off. I don't wear my piercing and dog collar as often as I would like to, but I'm use to it now, and my hair began fading once again.

I might even get rid of my Mohawk once the color is completely gone.

Or maybe not.

But it seems that the only thing that has stayed the same was being best bros with Geoff. The bell rang at this thought, and the entire class got up and began walking out of the door, as Mr. Daniels said goodbye, and wishing us a happy holiday.

After the exam, Princess and I made our way down to the café. We took our spot at the usual table we sit at, I could see Courtney occasionally looking over my shoulder at the snow that kept falling slowly. More snow is not what I need right now, especially when you only have your choice of sneakers or loafers to walk in it.

"So are you finished with exams, Duncan?" She asks me a few minutes later, now handing me a large green coffee mug filled with hot chocolate. I smirked, as much as she hates to admit it, Courtney is into the themes of winter. She loves snow, and Christmas. She told me one year when she was eleven her family strung popcorn around the Christmas tree. I never really fully understood the concept of that. But, around my house for Christmas just means more burglaries for mom and dad, and more of me not being around.

I shift uncomfortably thinking Ghosts of Duncan's Christmas Past. It isn't like anything dangerous or major has happened, it's just always the same old story. Mom and Pop work like crazy during the upcoming weeks, I stay out late, occasionally get wasted and couch surf. Mom and dad notice I'm gone, they find me within two days, and make me stay for Christmas eve. Then Christmas eve my parents bribe me to turn into Good Duncan. It's kind of simple, I get rid of my earrings and terrifying punk jewelry and wear a hat. Mom and Dad dress me up in a chimp suit. In return I get to go on Christmas morning. And I get to keep my parents happy…at least just for a few hours. It's something I'm not use to.

Going out on Christmas morning, I don't do much. I mean Geoff is always with his family, because they're a huge family big on family traditions. Then my other friends like Spike, Doug and Leo…well they're not really friends, more like insurance.

"Yep, I'm all done." I tell Courtney. "Western Civ was a lot easier than I thought it would be." I tell her, and she's pleased to hear me tell her this. She takes a sip of her drink and I ask, "How about you, do you have any left?" There are still two more hours of exams for the campus. They're the elective exams. Any class with an elective that requires an exams report down to one of the halls. Did I mention I was beyond thankful I was finished with these exams?

"Nope, I'm finished too." she grins. "Ms. Graham decided to throw me and my entire orchestra class a break for exams. She was going to make us have to perform a concert for the entire campus, but let's just say our orchestra is far from ready for that." Courtney giggles a little, I've never seen her so giddy and happy.

"So have you made any more thoughts to coming home this weekend?" She asks me next.

Truth is I haven't. I mean I don't feel like having to go with my parents to their dumb Christmas party. I don't really have the energy to put up with my annoying relatives on Christmas day, it just isn't worth it to me.

The only possible upside is getting off campus for a while, and spending the train and bus ride with two of the most important people to me. I take a big gulp of my drink and feel its warmth go down my throat, I wince…too hot.

"I guess not." Princess says, putting her mug down. "I really think it's best if you go home for the week, Duncan." She starts telling me. Here we go again. I lean an elbow on the table and wait for her to list the reasons why she is right and why the decision I'm making is wrong, as usual - but I'm not bitter.

"You could see your family, and see how things are going. This way when you go home for the summer, which I know is forever from now, things won't seem totally different. There are bound to be some kind of changes by the time that you're home." She starts.

I hadn't even thought of things changing when coming home. What if like, everyone is happier without me. Scenes from It's A Wonderful Life play into my mind.

"And who knows, your parents probably got you a little something for being on such well behavior here. It's good to get a change of scenery." She goes on, I drum my fingers against the table considering the idea.

"And if worse comes to worse, then you can always change your train ticket and come back here as soon as possible." Courtney covers her free hand over mine, and I stop drumming my fingers.

She stares at me with pleading eyes. I guess she really does want what's best for me. I sigh and roll my eyes back for a brief moment. "I'll think about it." I tell her. She grins at her success. "I'll just think about it." I say again.

Well, thinking about it lead to talking about it again with Courtney, which lead to her sneaking into my phone and calling my mom. This opened a whole new can of worms. Courtney had informed my mom that she has been my girlfriend here for quite sometimes, and that she is worried about me getting homesick. That isn't the case whatsoever, but I guess she had to tell my mom something.

Courtney's 'phenomenal' influence on me led to my mom booking a train ride for me back home for the week over Christmas break. So not what I wanted. But, for some reason I'm not even that mad.

In fact, as I sit here on my bed, with Courtney sitting in one of the recliners, chattering about her, what I find boring she finds fun, family traditions; I don't mind thinking about going home for the week.

"Well, I hope you're happy, Duncan." Courtney says pleased.

"I'm not." I smirk, loving to annoy her. She rolls her eyes exasperatedly and gets off of the recliner to come and join me.

"Did you tell Geoff the news yet?" She asks.

"It isn't really news, it's just…whatever." I shrug.

"I guess but…" her voice trails off for a moment. "It's just, last time we were on that train together we were total strangers who immediately hated each other."

I chuckle at the thought, funny I was just thinking that earlier today. "And now?" I raise my eyebrow.

"And now, we're boyfriend and girlfriend." She smiles. "Who still hate each other." She adds.

I can't help but laugh even a little.

"So, wanna help me pack, girlfriend?" My smirk creeps back up on my face.

"Sure." Courtney smiles. "Only if you help me pack when we're done here."

I chuckle. "Love to."

She scoffs and as an afterthought says, "You are such an ogre."

"You love it." I tease.

I got up and began walking toward my closet door to dig out my black suitcase. I heard Courtney scoff from behind me. "So not." I practically heard her rolling her eyes playfully. I guess some things never change. But, like I've said before, I'm not big on change anyway.

**Thanks again for reading this chapter, and thanks for those of you who review! Again, I want your opinion for the next chapter: ****Should i send Duncan home over the Christmas break with his parents, and write a chapter about that, or should my next update be about him back at the school taking place after vacation? **

**Thanks again, so much! I can't believe a year ago I was writing my first story, and now I'm wrapping up my third one!  
**


	27. One and Only

**Hi! Alright, so I guess I got a few more chapters left in me! Haha, and I seriously thought I would be done with CY, but I'm happy to say that I'm not. I really like writing DxC stories, and if you've been watching TDWT I'm sure we're ALL. . But, no real spoilers going on here, I HATE when i find out what happens before hand(I already know who wins, thanks to some random poster on facebook who comments on the TDWT fan status things. sigh) Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter! Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback, I decided to go with Duncan going home with his family, but I promise this chapter won't be boring! I need to thank you ALL for reviewing, reading, adding me and the stories to favorites and to alerts! And I would like to thank _DanceAcademyFanxxx_ for leaving me an idea to work with for this chapter!(Hint, it brings back an old character!) Thanks again, I love you guys SO much! I hope everyone who is back in school is having an enjoyable year! I am, so far anyway lol!**

_Duncan P.O.V - December twenty-second_

The minute I stepped off the train platform I could immediately _smell_ home. I gripped my hand on the handle of my suitcase as Courtney and Geoff both stepped beside me. Geoff clapped a hand on my shoulder, "Do you see your folks?" he asks with his always eager voice.

"Not yet. I don't even remember what they look like." I say.

Courtney snorts and rolls her eyes. "I'm sure you do, Duncan."

I shake my head, and scan the crowd with my eyes, trying to look for a familiar face. My dads tense expression, with his dark hair and a gray streak coming through, due to stress I'm sure.

I tried to look for my mom's always concerned, yet serious face. Her body standing next to my dad's, possibly holding hands? Is that what my parents did? I wouldn't know. I take a deep breath, and I hear Courtney excitedly exclaim, "Mom!"

She started rolling off toward her parents waving excitedly. Geoff and I watch her family reunion take place. Her mother was petite, with brown hair exactly like Courtney's. It was a little wavy, very light and rested neatly at her shoulders. She wore a light gray sweater, and a pair of khaki's. I can see where Princess's style comes from.

I spotted Sierra there with her family, embracing Courtney in a hug. Sierra didn't see me, or at least she would have reacted if she did, right? Lastly I saw her father, tall, silver hair, and an intense expression on his face.

He greeted Courtney with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and draped his arm around his daughter. I kept watching Courtney, as Geoff was scanning the crowd for his parents, or at least that's what I'm assuming he is doing. He hasn't said much.

Courtney shrugged off her father's arm, and said something animatedly to him, and started walking toward me with a smile painted on her face. I looked back at her father whose eyes were following his daughter. He looked at me. Shit.

Her father's eyes narrowed at me, and he began to glare at me. I didn't let this look phase me, I've seen it one too many times. Courtney wrapped her arms around me, and I smirked at her dad, and looked down at Courtney who was looking up at me.

"I've got to go now, but call me when you're settled in, okay?" She says sweetly.

"Okay." I promised. "One thing, what's your dads deal?" I ask.

She dropped her arms from my waist, and smiled uneasily and rubbed her arm nervously. "Well…I guess he judges people by their appearance?" She guesses weakly. I smirk again. I know the drill, why wouldn't someone judge me by the appearance? I'm the exact way on the outside as I am on the inside.

Right? Right. Thought so, punk.

"Whatever. Talk to you later, babe." I say, glancing up, pretty sure I just saw my parents.

"Your-you're not _mad_ are you?" She asks nervously.

"Nah." I shrug.

She studies me for a minute, and sighs. "Okay, call me later." I nod my head, and she grabs my chin pulling me forward for a kiss. I smile when she pulls back. She walks toward her parents again, and her father instinctively and protectively puts his arm on Courtney's shoulder and the picture-almost-perfect family walk together toward the exit of the train station.

I turn to Geoff who is looking at me already. "Whoa, I practically felt that old dudes stares burn into my flesh." He shuddered quickly.

"Tell me about it." I roll my eyes.

"So, I think I see my folks, do you mind if I go over there, or do you want me to just wait-

"I'm fine, Geoff. Trust me." I say nodding my head.

Geoff grinned, and we exchange a knuckle touch as he rolled over to see his parents and only three of his siblings, not sure where the others could be right now. Probably at home doing family like things…not like my family.

But, I swear I saw my parents. Whatever, might as well look for them. Courtney is already gone, and Geoff is walking out the door with his family now. Worse comes to worse I'll call a cab…or grab the next train back to New Jersey. It's already pretty late, the train ride takes a lot out of you, it's just _so boring_.

I roll my bag behind me as I walk through the train terminal, it's pretty empty since this place usually closes around midnight, but the trains always seem to be running. I walk to the information desk, just to stretch my legs and take a look around, but I don't see them.

Maybe I did forget what they looked like. Panic strikes over me for a brief second, and then I calm down again. This could be a blessing in disguise. Before anything else happens, I already have a plan to sneak onto the next train that takes me to Maine, then from there I can switch trains and find one that takes me to New Jersey, or close enough to New Jersey. I have only American currency anyway, and at this rate I can make it back to school by the twenty-seventh, it's a good plan.

"Duncan!" Too late. I shoot my head up, and see my mom waving one hand up in the air, smiling the smile I have admittedly missed. She ran a finger through the front of her blond hair, and turned to my father, who saw me. He wasn't smiling, his expression was the same grim expression he always wore when I was in some sort of trouble.

So why should this be any difference? I only hadn't seen my father in three months, I shouldn't expect him to miss me or anything. I mentally roll my eyes, but put on a small smile. I grab my bag and roll over to my parents.

"Oh my baby! I've missed you." My mom happily embraced me in a huge hug. I guess she's proud that I hadn't set anything to fire or caused any trouble while being away from home.

"Missed you too, Ma." I say in her hair.

She releases me, and dad cracks a smile. "Duncan, my son. How has life been treating ya?" He asks slightly coldly.

"Good." I respond.

I know what you're probably thinking. My dad is a total ass, it takes far too much to gain respect from the man, and you have to strive for perfection for him to like you, even if you're me-his son.

I'm sure he would love Courtney.

He always expected too much for me. I wasn't a rebel just because everyone in my family is a cop and because they're all too overprotective. My dad always wanted me to do _this_, or to be like _that_.

It's too much. So much pressure can break a guy…but not a guy like me. I'm too strong for any of that bullshit. _Right_? Right.

"Well, let's get to the car! It's quite late, and tomorrow we'll be very busy." Mom says brightly.

"What's tomorrow?" I ask, trying to not sound wary already.

I start following mom and dad out of the train station. The station was nearing empty as my family and I left. We walked through the parking lot for our car. I was on the look out for our familiar black Subaru car.

The cold air slapped me in the face, it had to be twenty degrees lower here than in New Jersey. New Jersey goes through all four seasons, and so does Canada. But, it's always so much colder up here.

"Tomorrow night the three of us are going to Jacqueline Martin's house for her annual holiday party." Mom says as dad pulls out his keys, pressing the unlock button twice, and the lights of our car blink quickly.

I repress an annoyed groan. Going to cheesy family-friend parties are not my thing. Especially when I don't like the people. The last…thirteen or so years I've avoided these parties. Whether I faked sick when I was younger, or just wasn't around because I ran away or something.

Either way this was not going to go over well. I don't say anything. We reach the car, and dad pops the trunk, bringing my suitcase inside the trunk. I slide into the backseat, and as soon as mom gets into the front seat, she turns on the heater.

I hear dad closing the trunk and he gets into the car starting the engine.

"What time is this party at?" I ask.

"Seven o'clock." Mom responds, pulling on her seat-belt.

"And what time does it end?" I ask.

"Duncan." Dad says in his warning tone. I roll my eyes and pull on my seat-belt as well so he doesn't tell me to. One of the last things I want right now is for my dad to tell me to do one of the most simplest things.

"It doesn't have a set ending time, Duncan. It's a party, we can leave whenever we want." Mom says easily.

This time I do roll my eyes. So we'll be there between seven and midnight, cool. Better bring my cell phone, because if Courtney and Geoff are free I'll be texting them all night.

"It won't be so bad, Duncan." Mom starts up again.

"Oh yeah?" I raise my eyebrow in disbelief.

"I think so. Some of your old peers from Jamison should be there." Dad says, taking a left turn onto the highway.

Great. Because I want to see people from my old high school. They probably won't even know me. Or I won't know them. They'll definitely know me. I've made a name for myself there in grade nine, and some of grade ten…for what I was there for.

The only person I liked from Jamison was Geoff, everyone else can go screw themselves.

I don't say anything, I dig into my front pocket for my ipod, in desire to drown on the silence.

I slipped in one of my headphones when mom said, "Oh this is so nice. Our family together again. Isn't this nice?" She claps her hands together once.

"Very nice." Dad says in agreement.

"Yeah, nice." I mutter under my breath loud enough for them to hear.

_December twenty-third_

You could say that when I woke up I knew I was in a new place. Or a different place, home is not new to me. Or it shouldn't feel like it is. My day did go by fast, luckily. Mom and dad let me sleep in(until noon, not long enough, but it'll due for now.) I showered and threw on a pair of jeans and my red hoodie because I swear the moment I stepped outside to get the paper I could have frozen my…well, ya know…off.

Mom cooked me breakfast, she was off duty for the day, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that she cooked me scrambled eggs for breakfast, or brunch…whatever. Dear ol' dad on the other hand was on duty all day until five o'clock.

After breakfast mom tried to make small talk and conversation with me about Abbott, and making new friends. I was considering telling her about Courtney, but I didn't. No need into bringing her up when it's not necessary.

"I'm really seeing a change in you, Duncan." Mom said when she was cleaning up the frying pan.

"Oh yeah?" I ask sipping my orange juice, eyeing her carefully.

"Yes. You are aware that I Haven't received a single phone call from Abbott Academy at all. Not one." She put the pan down, and wiped her hands on a dish rag.

"Oh yeah, I guess you didn't." I shrug.

Mom made a 'humph!' noise, and countered the kitchen table to sit across from me.

"Would you consider going back there for next year?" Mom asks me now.

"Gee, ma. I don't know, let me get through winter break first." I respond trying not to sound annoyed.

Mom sighed exasperated, as if she half expected this from me, which she should have anyway. "I guess so, why not." I shrug. If Geoff goes again, then I'm in. It's not so bad, and Princess is definitely going back.

"How about for the summer?" Mom asks.

"Huh?" I wrinkle my forehead.

"Well, it is a boarding school. You could stay on campus for the summer if you really wanted to. Or you could come back home." Mom tells me. Before I respond she goes on, "The reason I bring this up now is because the school news a renewal check if you're staying for the summer." She continues quickly.

I nod my head, and get up from my seat with my glass of juice. "Well, Mom." I start, and dump the rest of the juice down the drain, and firmly plant it on the counter. "I can't answer that right now."

Then I walked to my room, closing the door with more emphasis than necessary. Things, according to my mom, were not going according to plan. I'm not mad at her or anything. But, give me a break. I just got here and it feels like she already wants me back out.

I know she means well. It's just, okay, what if Geoff's parents want him to stay home for the rest of the year and summer. What if Princess and I…break up, or something. Why would I even want to go back without my best friend, having to face her? I'm not afraid of her, but man. It would be damn awkward.

Yeah, I have Dj and Trent…Gwen too. But, it's not the same as having your real bro to back you up. And thinking about Courtney and I not being together, right now anyway, is more unsettling than it should be.

But, that was this morning. Since then I've hung out with Geoff for an hour or two, we walked around town, gave ourselves a tour of what we missed out on. I saw some of my boys, nothing has changed, and for some reason they were all nagging on my nerves. It was the weirdest thing because I don't remember them ever treating me differently, but it was so annoying, I wanted to smash their faces in.

I even caught sight of some kids from my old school. They all gave me funny looks. Must of caught them off guard by seeing me here. Good. Be afraid. I even saw Taylor. _Taylor_, yeah, remember her? I think my head spun when she waved to me.

I just turned my head, no need to get tangled up in that clingy web. Even when I trash her and kick her to the curb, she still comes back. I guess I just have that power on people. God, I'm so good looking it must hurt.

Geoff snickered when he saw her waving to me. Her blond hair was pin straight and she looked so…fake. She looked so…not Courtney. I may have cringed when I first caught sight of Taylor. I can't be sure.

I was thankful, and surprised, that she didn't come up to me and start talking to me about where I have been, and what had happened, and why did I hang up on her, and all of those boring girl details.

Geoff and I were downtown when we saw her, we were walking up to the mall entrance with Dino and Rex. They're brothers, hence the dinosaur related nicknames. Their real names are Dexter and Roland, but trust me…if you saw these guys, you would know why they settle for their nicknames.

Mom knocked on my bedroom door, snapping me out of my thoughts. I leaned off my bed and sat up when she walked into my room. "Duncan, I need you to get dressed and change out of your clothes." Mom says sweetly.

"Why?" I ask annoyed, knowing what's coming.

"Well, we have our annual Holiday party to attend tonight." Mom says.

I roll my eyes. "Can't I just sit this one out?"

Mom clucks her tongue and shakes her head. "No, that's very rude, Duncan. You should know I expect more from you since your behavior has changed so much. It's only for a couple of hours." Mom crosses her arms.

Okay, really? She's bitching at me and I've only been home for less than a full twenty-four hours. I didn't say anything to my mom. Instead, I checked my pocket for my cell phone, and brushed past _her_ and stormed out of the house.

I'm not running away. Or hiding. I'm just doing what I always do when Mom gets too in my face about something. Besides, it serves her right. Is she really going to make me go to some dumb party with a bunch of people that I don't even care about?

Once I'm far enough away from my house, I pull my phone out of my pocket. I look at the screen, Five thirty-three. I swallow, and starting punching in Princess's cell phone number, begging for her to answer.

I kept walking as I listened to the dial tone, trying to find some place to sit. Not too far from here is my old elementary school, where they have a playground in the back of the building. I start heading toward there.

"Duncan?" Courtney greets, and I never felt so relieved to hear her voice.

"Princess!" I say taking a deep breath.

"What-what's wrong?" She asks her voice raising with concern a little.

"Nothing, nothing." I shake my head. "I just needed to talk to you."

All I heard was her breathing the other line, and what sounded like dishes clanking together in the background. I reach my old school, and observe it from the front.

"Well, I'm listening." She says, and the background noise settles down.

I walk around the school building and make my way to the back for the playground. The lot, as I expected, is totally deserted. There are no signs of cars of people around here. I make it to the playground, where the sand is as hard as frozen dirt. It hadn't snowed up here in Canada. In fact, my parents have reason to believe that its so cold up here, it's too cold to snow. I'm not sure if I totally buy this.

I walk on the frozen sand, and make my way over to the green plastic slide, and sit on the bottom. My ass immediately freezes, and I cringe at the cold, but lay back anyway.

"My mom is being so controlling right now. I'm over at my old school playground."

"Why?"

"Cause I needed some space." I shrug.

"No, I mean why is your mom being controlling?" I picture Courtney pushing her hair behind her ear, and sitting down in her room talking to me.

"Because she's making me go to this stupid…party, thing." I grunt and sit up as the cold freeze blows through the playground making me shiver. I really should have put on my jacket before storming out of the house.

"Yeah?" Courtney sounds like she's waiting for me to say more. "That's it?"

"Yes. That's it." I tell her. "Why, is that stupid?" I ask furrowing my brow.

"Well…no. It's not _stupid_, but it's not like it's some huge monumental deal."

I sigh and get up from the slide and start walking out of the playground, wanting to leave this dumb school all together. "So you're saying I should go?" I say annoyed.

"Kinda, yeah."

I don't say anything, I keep the phone pressed to my ear and start walking toward my house.

"Whatever, babe. I'll talk to you later." I start pulling the phone away from my ear, and I hear Courtney sigh on the other end before hanging up.

* * *

I walk through the hallway to the kitchen, where my mom was putting a bunt cake into a Tupperware container for tonight. When she caught a glance at me she smiled brightly.

"My, don't you look so handsome." Mom cooed, walking over to me, her black heels clicking as they hit the floor. She put both of her hands on my shoulders. "Is this shirt new?" Mom asks, it was a white button down shirt she had packed for me when she shipped me away to Abbott. I just hadn't worn it yet.

I had a black tie loosely done around my neck, with three of the buttons left open. When mom noticed she made a 'tsk' sound and, started buttoning it back up, and fixed my tie.

"Mom, stop it! This is suffocating." I grunt, and push her hands down, she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. This looked familiar. I loosened my tie again as Dad entered the room to join us. He had just gotten off of duty a little while ago, later than expected and just came home.

"What's all of the commotion?" He asks putting in a pair of cufflinks into his blazer.

"Nothing." I mutter.

Mom huffs, "Nothing, dear." with that she fixes my dad's tie, and he lets her. I roll my eyes behind their backs, and start walking toward my room again.

"Come Duncan, we're leaving now."

I groan and follow my mom as she grabs the bunt cake out the door. Dad takes the keys off the key rack, and I check my pocket for my phone and my ipod.

* * *

The second I walked into the door I knew this party was going to be totally lame. My parents introduced me to a few people they worked with and I nodded my head trying to be the best I could be, but this was too much. If you were here, you would totally get it.

I lost my parents and started scoping out this place. I've only been to a few of these parties, but it wasn't in a house like this one. They had moved only two years ago and blah, blah, blah. I tuned the rest of the story out. Being sixteen, you catch about every fourth word.

I walked into their den, which was empty. Everyone was either in the front living room around the giant plasma screen TV, or in the kitchen near the buffet line of gourmet food. I was already sick of this place.

But, in the den I found myself totally serene, and calm. There was a fireplace against the wall, with bricks tiling the back of it. The fire cackled every once in a while, its warmth flowing over to me. The lights were dimmed. There was a small string of white Christmas lights wrapping around the frame of the mantle above the fire place.

Then there was the large green Christmas tree settled in the corner completing the Christmas feel. The Christmas tree was real, I could still smell the light pine scent off of it. It was decorated with strings of white lights, and red and gold bulbs. It had to be the most perfect Christmas tree I have ever seen.

Perfect. It's like that word struck a mental chord, because I immediately thought of Courtney less than a second later. I slip my phone out of my pocket and click the side button to check the time. There were no missed alerts. I silently prayed Princess wasn't pissed with me.

I hear a certain click-clack noise hitting the hardwood floor, followed by a voice saying, "So, we meet again." Perplexed, I put my phone back in my pocket and turn around. I grimaced, and I assume my face fell. _Taylor?_

"What are you doing here?" I ask casually, trying not to seem too annoyed.

"I was just wondering the same thing about you, aren't you suppose to be at like…some…stupid, perpetual-

"Prestigious." I correct with an eye roll. Man, who am I turning into?

"Whatever." She hiccups.

I groan inside my mouth, and realize that she has to have at least one glass of wine in her. She always seemed to be able to hold her drinks well, but even so.

"I just didn't expect to see you here." She finishes.

"That makes two of us." I didn't think she knew anyone here. Her parents must have some kind of connection. I remember her telling me once her parents are rich for running some kind of company. Silly me, not having a care about a single, stupid thing she had to say.

"So…have ya missed me?" She asks, walking toward me sort of slow. I guess this was an attempt to seduce me or something, but she really just looked kind of…stupid, and flimsy, and easy.

I rolled my eyes, and took a seat on the large white sofa, and propped my feet on top of the brown coffee table, and watched the fire pop, as Taylor continued to embarrass herself in front of me.

"In a word…nope." I replied.

She giggled, and walked around the couch, and propped down next to me. She giggled and bounce down onto the couch a little, and hiccupped once. This was getting real old, real fast.

"And why is that?" She asks, giggling in my ear, I felt her hot breath on my neck, and I rolled my eyes. Her hands started wandering onto the front of my shirt onto my tie. I grunt, and try to move back.

"W-why are you so…covered up?" She asks annoyed, and tries to pull of my black blazer. I grunt annoyed, and stand up, causing Taylor to fall onto the couch in the spot where I once sat.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Officially fed up, I fix my jacket and tie. I run a hand through my hair and glare at her.

She laughed bitterly. "Wrong with me?" She sat up, and folded her skinny arms against the hem of her short dark purple strapless dress. "What's wrong with _you_? God, only a few months ago you would practically be begging me for sex." She rolls her eyes like she's so hot.

I snort, "Oh really?" I raise my eyebrow.

"That's how I remember it." She says as a matter of fact.

I've had enough of this girl already. I walk over toward Taylor, and get into her face.

"Get this straight, Taylor, and I'm only going to say this once. So you better listen." I warn her.

Her hazel eyes challenged me, waiting for me to say something. I looked at all of the dark eye makeup she had on. It looked _trashy_. Courtney would never- wait a second. Why do I keep comparing everyone and everything to her standards again? I shake my head and focus back to Taylor.

"I'm. Not. Interested. I already found someone." I say slowly.

"Oh have you?" her annoying voice asks.

"Yes. So if that's what it takes for you to get out of my face, then back off." I could feel my face tensing up.

"Technically, you're in my face." She says. Surprisingly, she grabbed my face, and planted her lips on mine. My eyes widened, and I pulled back as fast as I could. I let my brain process what happened. I growl under my breath and take two steps away. Taylor continues with her stupid babbling. "And whatever, I know you still wa-

"NO! I don't want you. _Why would I_?" I ask say slowly and angrily.

She scoffs, and tosses some of her string blond hair over her shoulder. "I have a girlfriend. And guess what? She's not you, she's ten times better than you. She's not some easy, desperate, annoying, little girl!" I shout, and I immediately find the second door on the side wall, besides the stairs in the den, taking my exit out of the house. I would say that I have had just about enough.

I could go for a pack of cigarettes right about now. I'm not big on smoking, but that doesn't mean I've never tried it before I moved to New Jersey. I take quick breaths, and try to unwind my anger. I pull out my phone and dial Princess's number automatically.

I stand on the hard, cold grass on the front lawn. A cold chill passes through, and as I look up at the stars, I see small snow flakes starting to fall slowly.

"Hello?" Courtney's voice picks up.

"Babe. Hi." I say breathlessly, this cold makes it harder to breathe.

"Duncan, I-I'm glad you called." She says softly.

"Really? Truth be told, I thought you'd be peeved." I admit sheepishly.

There was a short pause. "Well, at first I was." She says. I hear holiday music playing in the background, coming from a radio I assume.

"I know, and I'm sorry. But, I gotta tell you-

"What was that?" She interrupts.

"What?" I blink, and watch more snow fall slowly in front of my eyes.

"Say that again." She commands.

"What?" I repeat, confused.

"No!" She giggles a little. "You apologized to me."

"Oh, I uh…I guess I did." I say confused. I've never actually done _that_ before.

"But, what's wrong…you're alright, aren't you? You're at that party, right?" Courtney sounds concerned. You can tell when she is, because she'll start throwing twenty different questions at you, leaving you not enough room to answer one.

"I'm fine, I'm safe." I clarify. "And yeah, I'm at that stupid party. But, I gotta tell you something, and I don't think you would hear this from anyone else, but in case that you should, it's best you hear it from me first." I build up my entrance, not sure how the hell she is going to take this.

As we all know Princess is extremely unpredictable.

"Duncan…" Her voice says hesitantly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing to be worried about." I say quickly. "It's just, okay anther girl kissed me." I blurt out. Nothing like ripping off a band-aid, right? I wait, and wait…then I check my phone to see if she dropped the call. Nope, she's still on the line. So I wait…and wait. There is a fresh pile of snow on the ground, and my fingers hurt from the cold, so I begin to walk inside, going through the _other_ door.

"Court, say something. Please." I plead.

I'm pleading. I'm soft and pathetic.

"Something?" She says weakly.

"Don't be mad. It was just…you had to be there to really unde-

"I had to be there?" she interrupts.

"Well, yeah." I say puzzled.

The noise in the living room is too loud, but there is no way I'm leaving this room. I could bump into Taylor again. I am not having that.

"Well, I wasn't there." Princess says. "And I don't understand how you let another girl kiss you!" She almost shrieks.

"Hey, I didn't just _let_ her kiss me. She was _all_ over me! I had to practically throw her off of me!" I explain.

"OH! That's just _great_!" She seethes. "She was all over you? That's fabulous, really Duncan. It's great to hear." Her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Courtney, don't be like that. Please, just let me tell you the full story." There were loud cheers in the background.

Courtney grunts in disgust. "How about you have fun at your party, and call me when you're ready to let me be your _one and only _again." And then the line dropped.

I close my phone, and drop down onto the brown leather couch in the corner of the room, and wonder how I got here, and how in the world am I going to fix this.

**I hope you guys liked that, the ending was pretty dramatic and sad, but don't worry, i already have the next chapter in mind and i'm probably going to start writing it now! Maybe, i'll update again this week! It might not be as long as this one, but we'll see where things go! Thanks again SO MUCH you're all so supportive and amazing. i love all of the feedback and the suggestions( _icarlyfanatic101 _suggested that I do a sequel to this story, and maybe I will! Just not right away, I want to give Duncan and Courtney a break after I finish CY, and then I'll get started on my BxG story which I'm excited for!) I'm so happy this story has been so successful! love you all so much!**

**xoxo - Johnna  
**


	28. Our Thing

**I'm so stoked that I wrote this chapter so quickly. I finished it in a day and a half, but I didn't want to put it up right away. This chapter is not as long as the last one, but this one has lots of 'fluff' in it. XD I love that word haha it's so cute! But, that's the point...right? Anyway, thanks again to all of you reviewers, love you guys SO much! I am so happy each time I see a review! and thanks for everyone favorite-ing me and this story and alerting us! Okay, i think this is the second to last chapter**. **:'( totally sad right? Well, at least we have the real show(which is such a fail now. damn plot lines) and other stories to read, and other upcoming stories from me ;) so i love you guys.**

_Duncan P.O.V after vacation_

I can easily say that the rest of my vacation was less than easy. It was difficult. Courtney wouldn't return any of my calls, Geoff was busy and invited me over for some kind of huge bash, but I haven't been in the party mood.

After that call with Courtney I basically moped around all night, Mom actually suggested to Dad that we get going a little after ten, because she was worried about me.

Christmas was the only day out of the vacation that was doable. Mom and dad let me sleep in a little after ten, which doesn't fit my new seventeen hour sleep criteria, but I didn't feel like pushing it when everything was feeling so crappy.

I didn't give mom or dad a present. For a few reasons, one being I'm pretty much

broke right now. Two, I wasn't even planning on coming home so even if I wanted to get them something I'd have to break my neck trying to find something. And then three, they didn't expect anything, anyway.

Mom and dad bought me a few nice things. Mainly winter clothing. A long, black, wool coat. A black and green striped scarf(my style, I must admit), and a pair of black leather gloves.

Dad handed me a small box wrapped in silver wrapping paper, with a red bow placed on the top. I unwrapped the box as mom turned the TV on for the annual parade broadcasted on our local news network. Dad brewed a cup of coffee, waiting for some of our relatives to stop by.

When I undid the present, I was surprised to see a small silver ring. It didn't say anything, there was no pattern or design etched into it. It was just a ring. I stared at the ring a little perplexed as to the meaning of the gift.

"See that ring, there?" Dad says from behind me, holding his cup of coffee.

"Yeah, pretty nice." I say lamely.

"It's noble." Dad says. "Like the Lindon family name." Normally, I would roll my eyes at my dad's cheesy dialogue. Instead I pull the ring out of the box, and spin it round and round, examining it all.

"It _is_ pretty spiffy." I say, wondering how much this thing could go for.

"Don't think about it, Duncan." Mom says in her warning voice.

"Think about what?" I ask with an innocent smile on my face. The woman knew me all too well.

The rest of Christmas went by quickly. As for the other days of vacation? Boring. Dull. Cold. Nights where mom was home, she would question why I wasn't out with any of my old friends, I would shrug and make up some excuse, or tell her "Cause I don't wanna." or "Who needs _them_?" When I guess, right now anyway, I could.

Then she tried something else. "Oh, well how's Courtney? You must have talked to her!"

At first I was confused to how she knew Courtney. But, then she reminded me. "She was darling girl that called me to make plans for you to come home, right? What a sweetheart, and she's your girlfriend?" Mom would beam whenever she spoke of Courtney.

"Yeah Mom," I would say a little annoyed "She's my girlfriend." Well, at least at the time I believed so.

"When are you gonna bring her over? I'd love to meet her!"

"Uh, I don't think I can do so." I say.

"Why not?" She would ask.

"Well, her and her family are going to Qubec for the break to visit some family. Otherwise she would be here." I easily lie. Lucky for me, Mom's liar radar was off, and nodded her head as I told her this.

I guess it could have been cool if she met my mom. I mean in a corny, sentimental way, but still…cool. I wouldn't have mind if my mom met the reason why I'm not a total screw up this year, she could see why I've been doing so much better.

Why I haven't been stealing. Escaping campus. Hurting people.

But, I guess we can't always get what we want.

Courtney and I didn't talk until the train ride home. At first when I arrived at the station my stomach was in knots, anticipating to see her. I couldn't find her or Geoff at the platform waiting for the train to arrive.

I said my goodbyes to mom and dad, and they hugged me. Telling me how proud of me they were. I never thought I would hear those words.

"Duncan, I just want you to know that your father and I are so proud of you. Keep up the good work, honey." Mom said wrapping me in one of her bear hugs. I smiled into her shoulder blade and buried my head.

"Duncan, my son. You've been doing good." Dad said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. I smirked, "Thanks, dad." I knew he hated my smirk, it always meant I was up to no good, but I couldn't help it this time. Dad smiled and gave me a goodbye hug as well.

"Don't forget, wear that ring. It's valuable." Dad said pointing to my ring finger, where it was being hugged tightly by the silver band.

"Valuable as in _sentimental_." Mom clarified. "Don't try selling it." She warned.

I chuckled and since then I stood on the platform waiting for my train to arrive. Dad and Mom would have stayed and waited for me to leave, but they both had to leave to go to work. Early mornings down at the station. And if you're wondering if all Cops do is drink coffee and eat doughnuts, I can honestly tell you, about ninety three percent of them do.

The train pulled up at nine a.m. and I boarded the train alone. The silence was awkward, but that's what I had my ipod for. I slipped my headphones into my ears, and put the volume on low, so this way I could have my music as background noise instead. I wasn't ready to listen to my music, I was still looking for Princess.

As I walked through the train cart with my luggage attached to my hand, I searched for her brown hair. Maybe she got on before me. I walked all the back to the back cart before realizing, she isn't here. I furrowed my brow. She _has_ to be here. Princess would not miss school, she wouldn't transfer either.

I turned around to search all of the carts again, when the train attendant at the front told me we were going to start moving, and forced me to sit in the first seat next to some stuffy looking person, wearing a gray knitted beret, gloves, and a long plaid coat. This train has to be like eighty degrees warm, isn't she hot or something?

I tried to argue with the train attendant, but the train began moving, so I took my seat, and shoved my luggage under my seat. I crossed my arms and closed my eyes, resting it again the seat.

"Duncan?" A familiar voice called my eyes. It was _her_ voice, I snapped my eyes open, and turned my head. She was sitting right next to me. _What are the odds? _I'll tell you, like, one and….however many people are on this train.

"Princess." I grinned, taking out my headphones, and wrapping them around my ipod. I slipped it into my pocket.

She smiled weakly, and pulled off her gloves and hat. Her brown hair fell at her shoulders. "Funny, I didn't think I'd find you on the train. I was looking through all of the carts, and I couldn't-

"I was doing the exact same thing!" I interrupt her.

"Yeah, that's why I'm all the way back here." She admits.

We stayed silent for a moment or two. It was weird, it's like she knows what happened but isn't mad. It kind of isn't like her. But, maybe this time she actually understands.

"So, I take it you're not mad at me?" She says quietly.

I blink and pull back. "Mad at _you_?" I practically squawked.

"Yeah. I mean I guess I did go a little crazy on Christmas eve." She says sheepishly. Princess isn't use to apologizing either.

"I thought you were mad at me. Like seriously _pissed_ at me. Why didn't you take any of my calls?" I ask her.

"Because…well, I was." She says quietly, suddenly interested with her fingers. "And I didn't want to hear your voice, or even talk to you. Then I started thinking, 'Oh my god, Court, you two are fighting.' and then…you stopped calling." She continues.

"I thought that was what you wanted." I tell her. She shakes her head.

I can't help but smile a little. I put my hand on top of hers, she stares at our hands.

"So, you're not mad?" I clarify.

"As long as your not. I mean, I'm annoyed, yeah." She says, bringing her voice back up. "Duncan, how can you let some other girl weasel on top of you?" She pulls her hand out from under mine, and crosses her arms. _Damn_.

"Look, it's a weird, kind of long, complicated story." I explain.

"Well, we certainly have enough time." Princess says, gesturing around to the train. "Start from the beginning. That's always a good place."

She put her hand back down, and rested it on the arm rest. I put my big hand on top of hers again, she smiled at me. It was like I felt an electrical circuit run through my body when I touched her.

I told Courtney the whole story. From the beginning where Taylor and I had that cheap hook up in the summer, to just a few nights ago where I ditched her in the Martin family Den to escape Taylor's clutches.

Courtney took it well. She's strong. She didn't particular want to hold my hand when I was telling her about the details of Taylor and her reputation, but she didn't mind so much. Knowing that I'm hers kept her calm. Or so I am to believe.

"At least it won't happen again, _right _Duncan?" Courtney said with a slight annoyed warning tone in her voice.

All I did was smirk, "You got that right, Princess." I kiss her ear, and she blushed quickly.

"What? You're not use to me yet?" I say to her.

"No, I am. I am." She says smiling, looking down at her glossy nails. They were painted a clear color. Princes is into the natural colors and stuff like that. She hardly wears make up, and doesn't really use product on her hair. But, if you ask me she doesn't need to anyway. She's looks hot the way she is.

She looks beautiful, actually.

"It's just…I don't know. I like this feeling of you, being here. I guess." She explains incoherently, and looks back up to me, her dark eyes wide. "That sounds so lame doesn't it?"

"No, I get you. I get you." I say nodding my head. "I like the feeling of you being here too." I say as lamely as she did.

"So where's Geoff?" Courtney asks out of the blue.

"Truthfully? Who knows. As soon as I got on here I went looking for you." I say.

"Really?" her face lights up a little.

"Really. Don't be surprised." I chuckle a little.

She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand, the other one wrapped tightly into mine again. "Next time, I won't be." She tells me. She leans her head onto my shoulder as the silence of the train moving in motion fill the air.

"I really like this. This is…comforting." Princess whispers.

"I think so too." I whisper.

For the rest of the train ride we stayed together like that. She fell asleep for a little while, and I watched her rest peacefully. Her hand stayed intertwined with mine, and it just felt _right. _We had our shade down so the light from the sun wouldn't come seeping through.

When she woke up we played a game of twenty questions. We just talked and said meaningless things to pass the time. I would get under her skin, she would get on my nerves. But, at the same time neither of us were mad or anything. It was just the way our relationship worked.

Like a love hate thing. _It's our thing_.

**I love you all. Thanks so much for making this story so successful for me! It makes me more confident for future upcoming stuff. **

**xoxo - Johnna  
**


	29. Together

**Guys, I'm so sad and happy. This is the final chapter of Chasing You. I'm happy because I finished it and the story has been my most successful story! It has over THREE HUNDRED REVIEWS! MAN, i LOVE you guys! The annoymous ones who I can't respond to(and I respond to each and everyone of you!) and to the ones who responds basically after each chapter! That's so sweet and dedicated and amazing. I can only hope each story I write is as well as this one. **

**This is certainly NOT my last DxC story, I have plenty more coming soon. I love DxC, and I don't want to stop writing for them; not now anyway! There's a new episode of TDWT every Monday, you all know that, so keep watching the show :) I'll have a new story up soon enough, maybe not this month...maybe in October? I have no idea when I plan on putting it up, but if you're interested you can list me under your alerts! Thanks to all of you who add me and the stories to your favorites/alerts! Wicked sweet!**

_'Cause all I try to do is spend my life Chasing You. _

_You might go through the ups and the downs; but still I'll be around waiting for you._

_I hope one day you realize I'm the only one for you._

_But, for now I'm sitting down, just chasing you._

**I wrote a song(that's the chorus..COPY WRITE COPY WRITE) a few years ago; It randomly came to me, and that's how I got the title of this story to come to me. **

**I love you guys...thanks so much! I'll be back soon!**

_Duncan P.O.V. - Saturday_

For once everything has been going pretty great. Everything has been totally chilled and laid back for a bit because we're all unwinding and getting back into our normal schedule. The day we got back, after the train ride with Courtney we basically have been spending time together none stop.

I know what you're thinking. This just brings back that whole _inseparable _theory. It's just…things are so much easier when I'm with her. And I never thought that I would say this because she use to be the most difficult person I knew. Then she became my personal most wanted person, and now I have her.

We just hang out and do pointless things together or do nothing together. Like, we'll be in my room and just stare at each other until she blushes and tells me to stop it, because apparently I give her a look that freaks her out.

I know what look she's talking about. Trust me, it's far from freaky. The look is like, a stare I give her when I know I'm lucky to have her.

When did I become such a sap?

Oh and on the train ride home, about the whole Geoff thing? Yeah, he missed the train. He got in a few nights ago, he had to take another train to school. Apparently, his family threw a ginormous beginning of the year bash.

His parents and all of his siblings where in on it…so yeah, I'm guessing it was pretty huge, and Geoff slept all day and missed his alarm. They all were knocked out pretty much.

Things with Geoff and Bridgette have definitely scaled to the next level. Whenever I see one, I always see the other. Attached to one another's lips. Seriously, they suck face twenty four seven, and I'm not sure when they come up for air.

They only time they aren't making out is when they're in class. But even then they try to restrain themselves from touching each other, so they sit on opposite ends of the classroom.

More recently Courtney and I have switched from hanging out in my dorm room to just hanging out in my dorm common room, or the café. Change of scenery is good…and then there's the factor that Trent threw us out when him and Gwen wanted to "talk" and "get to know one another better" I'm not sure what happened with them, but they both seem really happy.

I walked down from my dorm, and across campus to Courtney's hall. She told me to meet her in the front common room to hang, Geoff was over in her room with Bridgette, and the sounds of them making out made studying uneasy, so she says.

I simply told her studying makes _life_ uneasy, and that she should just chill for a little bit and take a break. Surprisingly, she agreed and said it was a good idea.

Ladies and gentlemen, hell just froze.

I wrapped on the scarf my parents gave me, and the black coat did come in handy, since I've been wearing practically everyday. It has been freezing here. The gloves I just started to use. I'm into the fingerless gloves, so I hadn't been wearing those leather ones mom and pop gifted me.

But, two nights ago I was outside with Dj and Trent and we got into this epic snow ball fight battle. It started out with Trent falling into me, and me face planting into the snow. Then that evaluated into snow flying, and Dj and Trent creating a war zone with me. Ice and snow was _flying_, and it was like eight o'clock at night, so it was twenty degrees below what it normally is in the daytime.

I wasn't wearing my gloves, and an hour into our snowball fight, the tips of my fingers began turning the lightest shade of blue. First they turned pink from the cold, then white, and then blue. That was when I had to surrender.

But, I'll get them back. Mark my words. We have plenty of snowy days left.

After my snowball fight, I met up with Courtney inside of the café, it took me a while to warm up, I drink two cups of coffee I was pretty awake that night. Courtney noticed the band on my finger.

She lifted her delicate fingers underneath mine, to examine the ring.

"What's this?"

I shrugged, and took a sip of my drink with my free hand. "A ring my dad gave me as a Christmas present." She slid the ring off of my ring finger and examined it with her own tiny, tan fingers.

"It's so…blank." She said a minute later, handing it back to me.

I shrug and reply, "That's the Lindon way."Courtney giggled for a second, "The _what_ way?"

"Exactly."

I shuffle my feet through the snow, thinking back on the memory and pull open the front door to Courtney's hall. I wipe my feet down on the welcome mat. I saw the back of Princess's head, sitting on the black leather couch, looking down at a book.

This common room was far nicer than the one in my hall. The one in my hall had a few old couches, and had a couple of book shelves. Wow, that's _sooo_ fascinating. The one here have better couches and chairs, nice rugs and a TV hung up on the wall. This building is the newest one on this campus.

Princess was telling me about it when I complained about my common room.

I unwrapped my scarf, and stuffed my gloves into my coat pocket. I hung it up on the coat rack beside the door when you entered the common room. I walk up to Princess, and immediately plop down next to her.

She cast an annoyed look over to me, but when she noticed it was me, she smiled. "Hey you, I didn't think you'd get here so quick." She says, closing her book and putting it on the coffee table in front of us. I kiss her mouth, and she smiles into the kiss. I wrap my fingers around her neck, and pull her in closer to me. A what feels like a second later, she breaks the kiss, but remains just as close to my face. Her breathing was speeding up and she stared at me into my eyes, "Wow, that was…wow." She blushed, and I smirked.

"How's that for hello?" I ask while my eyebrow raised.

"Pretty good." She leaned back into her seat, and I shifted my position so I could look at her better.

"How has your week been, Princess?" I ask her. She secretly likes the nickname, even though whenever I use it, she sighs or rolls her eyes annoyed, but I know she really likes it.

"Manageable." she says with a sigh.

"Thank God for Saturdays, eh?"

"Definitely." She confirms with a nod.

A minute later Geoff and Bridgette came down the elevator, surprisingly not all up on one another. But, they were holding hands, looking perfect together. Seeing as they're both tall, blond, and have vibrant personalities.

"Hey guys, we were looking for you!" Bridgette says once they get over to us, and sit down on one of the other leather couches.

"Where did you look first, down Geoff's throat?" Courtney shoots.

The three of us laugh over it as Bridgette's face turns beat red. Geoff rubs his hand on Bridgette's shoulder. "Lighten up, babe. They're just joking." He tells her.

"Good one." I tell Courtney, she shrugs and smiles. "I'm pretty sure I got from you." She tells me, and I smile bigger.

"What are ya'll doing here?" Geoff asks us.

"Nothing, just meeting up." Courtney replies, I wrap my arm around her shoulder.

"Ah, I see what you mean." Geoff says sending me a smirk. I reply with a puzzled expression.

"What does she mean?" I ask.

Geoff drawled, "Uhhhh…"

Bridgette giggled, "Close your jaw Geoff, you're attracting flies." Bridgette jokingly pushed his jaw up with hand. "I don't think Geoff knows what he's talking about." Bridgette says, and Courtney and her begin laughing.

The four of us sat in the common room talking about classes and just aimlessly doing nothing. Geoff tore a page out of the back of Courtney's novel and turned it into a paper airplane, which seriously peeved her.

It was one of those random blank extra pages in the back of the book when the story is done. Even though there were no words on it, she was still pissed. And when my Princess is pissed, I'm pissed. Unless, I'm the one causing it, otherwise I'm entertained.

Courtney and Bridgette talked about their classes and probably did some of that girl talk I'm only half way invested in, Geoff and I talked bros and sports; Geoff wants to join the hockey team, and he tried convincing me to join too. I might…haven't decided yet.

It might please Courtney and my parents too. Courtney is always telling me colleges love extra curricular crap like that, and my therapist had once told me that if I joined a sport I could get my aggression out during practice and games. As long as no one was hurt. But, where's the fun in that?

Courtney was now sitting next to Bridgette on the other couch, they were cross-legged facing one another, as Geoff and I slouched on our couch playing a game of cards from the deck Geoff found on the common room table.

"Oh, hey you two!" Bridgette's voice greets. I crane my head to see who she could be talking to. Sure enough, Trent and Gwen were walking in together, hand in hand. Trent had his guitar strapped to his back, and Gwen was wearing what looked like a new shirt. She wasn't dressed in her usual Goth clothes. She had on a pair of denim skinny jeans and a white v-neck t-shirt. She was also wearing a few beaded necklaces and her nails were painted black, as always.

It was refreshing to see her wearing brighter colors, but also a little weird. This must be the reaction people get when I'm not wearing my dog collar and when I'm not wearing my regular dark clothes on the weekends.

Like today, I'm wearing a black and white stripped sweater and a pair of black converse, instead of my favorite red pair.

"Hey guys." Gwen says to all of us.

"What's up?" Trent greets.

The guys respond to Trent and Gwen with, 'hey there,' 'I'm good, you?' and 'just hanging out.' responses.

Confused to why they're here, seeing as this isn't their dorm I ask, "So, what brought you both down here?" I throw a card into the throw-away pile Geoff and I had set up on the couch between us.

"Well, Trent and I were just hanging out in his room, and well we were bored." Gwen answers me with a shrug.

"Well, there's always room for more." Bridgette says with her usual friendly smile. The girl has perfect teeth.

"Cool." Trent responds, while pulling his guitar up over his head, and holding it in front of him. He took a seat on one of the chairs that was between the two couches, with the coffee table right in the middle.

Gwen sat on the arm of his chair next to Trent, and leaned into the chair, her arm leaning into his. He smiled up at her and she returned it back to him. I roll my eyes, hiding my smile as Geoff throws a card into the throw-away pile.

If you're curious about the game that we're playing…well we kind of just make stuff up as we go along.

"So guys," Courtney's voice was lingering with curiosity.

"So yeah?" Gwen raises her left eyebrow.

"I was curious, are any of you staying here for the summer?" I glance over at her. Courtney and I hadn't even mentioned the future or the summer. It is only the middle of January. But, my mom had mentioned a few more times that the renewal check for room and board was due the first week of February for the summer.

"Well, I know I'm definitely going home for the summer. I can't be away from home for too long." Bridgette says to us.

"I'm staying here for the summer. Mr. Crenshaw promised me a summer music class for guitar and music theory. I can't pass that up, only the best of the best get into that." Trent says.

"Good for you, Elvis." I say casually, grabbing a card out of the throw-away pile.

Trent smirked at my remark. "I think I'm going to go home. For the summer, I mean." Gwen tells us. "It's just, my mom needs help at home, It's just her me and my little bro and it can't hurt if I'm there for the summer to help her out for a bit. And I miss her." Gwen admits.

Geoff and I remain silent, as eyes fall on us. We continue pulling and dropping cards into our piles. I'm not even sure what we're doing anymore.

"Well?" Courtney says expectantly.

"I'm not sure, bra." Geoff shrugs, placing his seven cards at his side. "I mean, there's nothing really here that I can't get back home, and I'm use to living out here on my own. Plus in the summer you get a lot more freedom. Like you can leave campus without having to sneak off. It's suppose to be mad chill." Geoff explains.

"And if I go back home all I have is my huge family, which is cool and all but too crowded for me." Geoff picks up his cards again. "What about you, bro?" he asks me.

"I-uh…" I put my cards down, and look at Courtney who is just staring at me, waiting for me to say something.

"I was sort of thinking of just staying here." I say. I was waiting for Princess to jump in immediately and say, "Me too!" but she kept watching me. So I babbled on. "Cause if I go home it'll be the same boring story, same always working police parents, I'll get bored eventually and probably get arrested." I roll my eyes in annoyance of my thoughts getting out of hand.

I pick up my cards again, and throw a black three of spades into the throwaway pile.

"Me too." Courtney says. I turn my head. "I plan on staying here too." I throw my cards down, and look at Princess. She's sitting on the couch, with her legs crossed, and her arms at her side, looking so calm.

"Really?" I say. I could have sworn when she first didn't say anything she wanted to go home.

"Really. I mean I like living on my own too…besides, anywhere you are Duncan, well that's where I want to be." She says with a small smile following up after her words.

"Thank you, babe." She blushes lightly, and looks down for a second. "Malibu, switch seats with me." I get up, and Bridgette, who looks annoyed at her new nickname, complies with what I ask, and sits with her boyfriend.

I fall into the seat next to Courtney, and wrap my fingers over hers.

Trent began strumming his guitar, and harmonizing softly. It sounded really nice, especially since this place was so empty. There were a few people coming and going, spotting the six of us, but no one came and talked to us.

With Trent's background music, the calm mood, and the friends I'm surrounded with, I don't think I've ever felt more comfortable. More at _home_. Gwen was humming softly with Trent, as Geoff and Bridgette either spoke softly or made out when we weren't looking. I turned my head to face Courtney, and pull her in to kiss her.

"What was that for?" She asks quietly as she pulled away.

"Thanks for sticking around," I tell her. "I know I'm a pain in the ass sometimes, and I'm not the easiest person to deal with. Especially since we had that whole love slash hate thing going on…I'm just glad to know I've got something good on my hands."

Courtney looked down at our hands, "Wow, Duncan…I'm not even quite sure how to properly respond to that but," She looked back up into my eyes, "Thanks for never giving up on me. And what I mean by that is…I know _I_ can be difficult, and I have these huge expectations for everything and everyone, but you just accept me for me." She says to me.

I smile because in that moment I know, no matter how fast life might be going by, no matter how far away I am from my family, or how little I know about the real world, it feels like as long as I have Courtney, I can be okay,

I'm not trying to be sappy, I'm serious. I always heard cheesy lines like these in movies. About how like, love can solve the simplest problems, and as long as you have that one special person everything is going to be okay, no matter what the situation is.

You might not be sixteen, you might be thirty or even seventy. But, there has got to be a person out there for everyone, because it would be seriously messed up if there wasn't. I guess I just got lucky, because I already found who I can see myself spending the rest of my life with.

"Thanks for following me all of this way." Courtney says looking at me through my eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, for just…following me. For always being there when I needed you. For not giving up on me, for understanding me, for wanting to be with me despite the physical pain I caused you in the past." She adds with a small laugh at the end.

I shake my head with a smile, and say, "Princess, I wasn't following you." She looks at me and waits. "I was Chasing You."

Courtney kept smiling at me, and she didn't say anything. But, then I knew that _she_ knew everything was going to work out well, and that we'll make it out of here together and that's the way things should be.

And then I kissed her again.

_The End_

**Sorry for being so...cute. LOL. LOVE LOVE LOVE FOR ALL OF YOU EVERYDAY, EACH DAY! I love being a writer for you amazing reviewers! New stories soon! More DxC, some BxG, and even TxG those are my favorites! lol You're all so amazing, please don't ever change. Peace and love**

**- Johnna**

**xoxo  
**


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